An outstanding comeback carried the One New Zealand Warriors to one of their best wins of the season when they dismissed second-place Canterbury Bankstown 32-16 in Saturday’s 25th-round Jersey Flegg Cup (under-21) encounter at Go Media Stadium.
After being overpowered 36-10 by Manly Warringah in Sydney last week, the Warriors found themselves in deep trouble early in the match as the Bulldogs exploded out of the blocks with three tries in the opening 15 minutes.
Down 0-16 the signs weren’t encouraging on the scoreboard but the Warriors took that out of the equation, regrouped and fought their way into the game gradually.
There was just one try to show for it in the first half, centre Nganatatafu Vake scoring to enable the Warriors to go to the break 10 points adrift at 6-16.
But the contest changed complexion completely in the second spell, the Warriors grabbing two converted tries in the space of eight minutes through centre Alvin Chong Nee and Vake with his second to vault into an 18-16 lead.
Match: Warriors v Bulldogs
Round 25 -
home Team
Warriors
11th Position
away Team
Bulldogs
2nd Position
Venue: Go Media Stadium, Auckland
Prop Harry Durbin followed with a try in the 57th minute before wingers Raphael Sio and Garry Tuilekutu completed an impressive half which saw the Warriors pile on 26 points in the second half alone and 32 unanswered points in all in the last 45 minutes of the game.
The win was the Warriors’ eighth of the season, lifting them to 21 points and enabling them to go ahead of Melbourne to take 11th spot on the ladder.
They play their final match of the season against fifth-placed Cronulla Sutherland at PointsBet Stadium in Sydney next Saturday.
