After a Super Sunday when all five of the club’s teams were in action, the One New Zealand Warriors are now leading two competitions as well as climbing to sixth on the NRL ladder.
From 11.00am to 10.00pm NZT, the Warriors’ teams were playing in the Harold Matthews Cup (11.00am kick-off), SG Ball Cup (1.00pm), Jersey Flegg Cup (3.30pm), New South Wales Cup (5.55pm) and finally the NRL (8.15pm kick-off).
It was a rare occurrence to have all five sides in action on the same day. What’s more, four of the five games had nerve-racking finishes:
Harold Matthews Cup (under-17): The Warriors were leading 14-12 in Pukekohe when they conceded a late try to fall 14-18 behind with 90 seconds to go. They regained possession from the restart and, from the last play of the game, levelled up with a try near the posts and then converted for a 20-18 victory.
Match: Warriors v Rabbitohs
Round 8 -
home Team
Warriors
away Team
Rabbitohs
Venue: Navigation Home Stadium, Pukekohe
SG Ball Cup (under-19): Facing the second-placed Rabbitohs at Redfern Oval in Sydney, the Warriors were hanging on bravely to a 16-12 lead into the final minutes only to let in a late try. South Sydney couldn’t convert leaving the teams to share a point from a 16-16 draw.
Match: Rabbitohs v Warriors
Round 8 -
home Team
Rabbitohs
away Team
Warriors
Venue: Redfern Oval, Sydney
Jersey Flegg Cup (under-21): Chasing their first win of the season, the Warriors led Wests Tigers 20-4 at halftime in the early game at Campbelltown Sports Stadium. Into the final 10 minutes their lead was down to six points at 20-14 but they couldn’t hold the Tigers out as they scored and converted in the 72nd minute to lock up a contest that finished at 20-20 despite a frantic final stanza.
Match: Wests Tigers v Warriors
Round 4 -
home Team
Wests Tigers
10th Position
away Team
Warriors
13th Position
Venue: Campbelltown Sports Stadium, Sydney
NRL: A rollercoaster encounter went this way and that, the Warriors coming back from 18-24 with Leka Halasima’s wonder try, Luke Metcalf’s conversion to level it up 24-24 and then his clutch penalty from 40 metres out to win it 26-24.
Match: Wests Tigers v Warriors
Round 4 -
home Team
Wests Tigers
9th Position
away Team
Warriors
6th Position
Venue: Campbelltown Sports Stadium, Sydney
Only in the New South Wales Cup match at Campbelltown (the middle game of a tripleheader) did the Warriors ease to a solid winning margin as they scored six tries to beat Western Suburbs 34-20.
Match: Magpies v Warriors
Round 4 -
home Team
Magpies
12th Position
away Team
Warriors
1st Position
Venue: Campbelltown Sports Stadium, Sydney
Following the round of matches, the Warriors are on top of the table in the Harold Matthews Cup and the New South Wales Cup.
Their 6-1 record has them on 14 points in the HMC with one game to go in their regular season; they climbed above Illawarra which had its first loss of the campaign.
In the NSW Cup the Warriors are four from four sitting on eight points ahead of a bye this week.
In the NRL, the Warriors are sixth on six points with a 3-1 record going into their first bye. The last time they were 3-1 after four rounds was in 2023 while the only other times they’ve started that well or better were in 2018 (4-0), 2003 (3-1) and 2002 (3-1), all years when the Warriors made the finals.
