Warriors winless in three games after loss to Titans

By Michael Burgess

The Warriors are in a hole – there is no sugarcoating it.

Defeats at home are always hard to take but this will hurt more than most.

What has happened to the team we knew? The squad that was so resilient?

A game that promised to be a magnificent occasion, with the first Anzac Day match in Auckland since 2015, turned into the ultimate anti-climax as the Warriors were upset 27-24 by the Gold Coast Titans.

They produced a rollicking finish – and could have, maybe should have, stolen it – but instead extended their winless streak to three games.

It wasn’t all bad. The Warriors started well and finished even better, completely dominating the final 25 minutes. but they left themselves with too much to do after conceding 27 unanswered points in a horror stretch to blow an early 12-0 lead.

It was an awful period; one that will be hard to explain even after video reviews. The Titans were desperate and it showed, while the Warriors couldn’t switch on until it was too late.

At times it doubled as a reminder of the flat performance against the Dragons last week and even the out-of-sorts effort versus Manly before that.

There will be analysis of the bunker’s decision to deny a late Rocco Berry try – which looked like a tough call – but margins shouldn’t be so tight at Mt Smart, which was a fortress last year.

The team has lost their defensive mojo, especially on the right edge, which looked shaky. They were also killed by errors and penalties in the first half. Even when they got rolling at the end, the composure was missing, with passes going to ground and wrong options taken.

Though the result will hurt, the day will still be long remembered, especially for the stirring pre-match ceremony, with the Last Post played by a lone soldier on the Mt Smart hill, before a moment of silence recognised by the 23,912 crowd.

When play commenced, the Warriors made a perfect start.

The first try was a peach, with Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad looping around Shaun Johnson, the product of a snappy attacking set. There was more three minutes later, as Addin Fonua-Blake ran off a perfect Johnson ball to finish under the posts - though the Warriors were fortunate after the referee missed a Berry ruck infringement.

Just as it felt like things couldn’t be going any better, they started to slowly unravel. It began with a soft try, as a poor defensive read from Dallin Watene-Zelezniak exposed the right edge, with AJ Brimson finishing off the long-range effort. The game developed into a grind but the Titans gradually got on top, helped by a succession of penalties. Jacob Laban and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck tried to inspire with big hits but the Australian team were on a roll and looking more confident with every set, as the Warriors were starved of possession and territory.

The pressure told with Tanah Boyd’s try after 30 minutes, though rookie Laban lost his bearings as the halfback stepped back across the grain.

The Warriors had their moments but were in a hole. A desperate Tohu Harris tackle stopped a certain try but David Fifita ploughed his way moments later. The Warriors’ mental state was epitomised by their bizarre captain’s challenge just 18 seconds before halftime before Boyd knocked over a field goal.

The pattern continued early in the second half with a Titans penalty, followed by a couple of misses on the right edge allowing Alofiana Khan-Pereira to cross in the corner.

The comeback looked underway when Tuivasa-Sheck soared AFL style to take a Johnson chip – as the crowd erupted – before the bunker found a minuscule Egan knock-on in the leadup. That was deflating and there looked to be no way back after Brimson’s second try in the 54th minute for a 15-point lead. The opportunity came from yet another error.

But from nowhere, the Warriors found a late revival. Fonua-Blake powered over from 20m, off another Johnson pass. If that was good, what followed was even better as Berry plucked a bomb out of the sky. But there was no coup de grace in the final 17 minutes. A Berry effort was controversially scrubbed by the bunker and a succession of sets on the line were stifled by the smothering Titans defence.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission