With their 13th win of the season the One New Zealand Warriors are just two points off the top of the table after beating South Sydney 28-10 in today’s round 23 New South Wales Cup clash at Bruce Pulman Park in Auckland.
The victory completed a Warriors double header sweep following the Jersey Flegg Cup side’s 22-10 win over the Rabbitohs in the curtain raiser.
Coming off their 46-10 victory against Parramatta a week ago, the Warriors were into their work quickly against the 12th-placed Rabbitohs.
Within 12 minutes they had two tries to show for it with winger Motu Pasikala over in the seventh minute and centre Eddie Ieremia following five minutes later for a 12-0 lead.
Match: Warriors v Rabbitohs
Round 23 -
home Team
Warriors
4th Position
away Team
Rabbitohs
12th Position
Venue: Bruce Pulman Park, Takanini
A response from South Sydney cut the lead to eight points but the Warriors restored their 12-point advantage three minutes short of halftime when Ieremia had a second try.
In the opening minutes of the second half the Rabbitohs were back within six points at 10-16 after an Izaac Thompson try but the Warriors then regrouped to see off their opponents.
A try to fullback Ben Farr in the 55th minute – converted by Metcalf – extended the advantage to 22-10 and another to prop Zyon Maiu’u plus the extras from Metcalf made it 28-10 with 13 minutes to play.
The Warriors efficiently closed out the match over the final stages to surge to 31 points on the ladder.
They’re fourth on a condensed table with the North Sydney Bears leading on 33, Canberra second on 32 and Newtown also on 31 but third on points for and against after beating the Bears today.
All the statistics underlined the Warriors' superiority on the day - possession 55 per cent to 45 per cent, completions 81 per cent to 71 per cent, metres gained 2035-1554, line breaks 8-1, tackle breaks 56-20 and missed tackles 20-56.
No fewer than 13 Warriors topped 100 metres, Leka Halasima had 11 tackle breaks and Metcalf, in his first 80-minute performance in four months, came through with 77 metres from eight runs, a line break, a line break assist, two try assists, 57 receipts, 11 tackles with one miss, an intercept, 389 metres from 15 kicks, a 40/20 and four goals from five attempts.
