It looks like you may be using adblocking software to view this site.
Many features on the site, such as video playback, may not work properly when using adblocking software.
Please whitelist our domain or disable your adblocker to access all features and videos.
Loose forward Ronan Byford’s last-minute try and halfback Alapati Tusa Soagia’s pressure conversion gave the One New Zealand Warriors a second consecutive win as they came from four points behind to beat Penrith 22-20 in Sunday’s second-round Harold Matthews Cup (under-17) encounter in Sydney.
After beating Manly Warringah 28-10 first up last week, the Warriors were facing a four-point loss until the late heroics to give the side the ideal start to their campaign.
They had started the contest brilliantly with two tries inside the opening 10 minutes.
First standoff Tyson Hansen stood up in tackles, bumped his way clear and fed centre Calieb Fidow to open the scoring wide out just four minutes in.
Five minutes later the Warriors went back-to-back, hooker Dreytin Marriott serving up a nice short ball for front rower Lucian Mikaeke to power over from close range, Alapati Tusa Soagia converting from next to the posts for a 10-0 advantage.
Match: Panthers v Warriors
Round 2 -
home Team
Panthers
away Team
Warriors
Venue: HE Laybutt Field, Sydney
The Warriors weren’t able to cash in on their sweet start, though, with the Panthers controlling the rest of the first half with three tries in 11 minutes to take a 16-10 lead into halftime.
Chastened by their lapses in the first half, the One New Zaland Warriors immediately redressed the balance with a strike five minutes into the second spell.
Interchange hooker Amasio Tiatia provided the joy as he burrowed low from dummy half to expose Penrith’s goal-line defenders. With the conversion it was all locked up at 16-16.
The Warriors couldn’t back it up as they conceded a fourth Penrith try 12 minutes later to enable the home side to lead 20-16 with 13 minutes to play.
Into the last two minutes the Panthers were still ahead but now the Warriors found a way after receiving a penalty on halfway.
On the second tackle, Byford took the ball off the ruck on the 20m line and just kept running, beating five would-be defenders to level it up at 20-20.
It all came down to Soagia’s conversion from just to the left of the posts. The pressure didn’t show at all as he nailed it to give the Warriors the lead for the first time since the ninth minute to bank their second win in as many starts.
After being on the road for the first two rounds, The One New Zealand Warriors have a bye before their first home game of the year against Illawarra at Navigation Homes Stadium in Pukekohe on Sunday, February 23.
