Victory eluded the One New Zealand Warriors but they still emerged with merit from their season-ending Jersey Flegg Cup (under-21) encounter with the white-hot Cronulla Sutherland Sharks at PointsBet Stadium in Sydney on Saturday.
With wins against South Sydney (28-10) and top-ranked Canterbury Bankstown (32-16) in recent weeks the 11th-placed Warriors took some renewed confidence into their battle with the fifth-placed Sharks.
Their opponents, though, had been in commanding form in recent weeks with five straight wins in which they averaged almost 54 points a game.
And when the Sharks scored twice within the first 10 minutes to lead 10-0 there might have been cause for anxiety.
The Warriors kept turning up, though, conceding just one more try in the first half to trail 0-14 at the break.
Match: Sharks v Warriors
Round 26 -
home Team
Sharks
5th Position
away Team
Warriors
11th Position
Venue: PointsBet Stadium, Sydney
The Sharks were over again in the opening minutes of the second half to extend to 20-0 but that would be the end of the scoring for them as the resilient Warriors stayed in the fight and refused to yield.
Ultimately they were rewarded for their work with a Siale Faeamani try in the closing minutes to fall to a creditable 4-20 loss.
It ended the One New Zealand Warriors’ return to the Jersey Flegg Cup competition after a five-year absence.
The team finished 11th on 21 points with eight wins, a draw and 15 losses but there was much to like about the way they recovered from a tough period in the opening weeks.
Indeed, after losing their first five matches (three of them heavily), they had an encouraging run of eight wins, a draw and 10 losses in their last 19 games. Of their 15 losses, one was by a margin of four points, one by six, three by 10 and four by 12.
On top of that the team played a key role in developing players stepping up from the SG Ball Cup (under-19) and also preparing several players for promotion to the New South Wales Cup.
