Vodafone Junior Warriors coach Kelvin Wright has named an unchanged starting line-up but has made some changes to the bench for the club’s round two NYC encounter with the Raiders at GIO Stadium in Canberra on Sunday (4.15pm kick-off local time; 6.15pm NZT).
The run-on side last week included only one NYC debutant – halfback Erin Clark – while three on the bench (Tualima Tualima, Tamati Ioane-Niko and Isaiah Cooper-Tetevano) were making their first appearances in the competition.
Of the quartet only Cooper-Tetevano remains on a six-man bench named today.
Hooker Sheldon Pitama, who played five times for Melbourne’s NYC side last year, is set to play for the Vodafone Junior Warriors for the first time after being 18th man in Newcastle. Also chosen is the hard-hitting Wesley Tauti – used three times last year – and Joseph Price (one game last year) along with new faces Amoni Tufui and Roman Tuhimata.
The Vodafone Junior Warriors are coming off a performance which saw them hang in with the Knights for a long passage of last week’s contest. They were locked at 16-16 at halftime and, after conceding a try early in the second half, were just 16-22 adrift for much of the spell until the home side scored three tries inside the last 14 minutes to win 41-16.
In contrast the Raiders opened their 2015 account with a 34-32 victory over Cronulla.
In their two meetings last year the eventual premiership-winning Vodafone Junior Warriors knocked up 54 points both times, triumphing 54-0 at Eden Park and 54-6 at GIO Stadium (their first victory in Canberra).
VODAFONE JUNIOR WARRIORS v CANBERRA RAIDERS
GIO Stadium, Canberra
4.15pm, Sunday, March 15
VODAFONE JUNIOR WARRIORS
1 BRAD ABBEY
2 TOMAS AOAKE
3 MARATA NIUKORE
4 SEMISI TYRELL
5 PAUL ULBERG
6 ATA HINGANO
7 ERIN CLARK
8 BUNTY AFOA
9 NATHANIEL ROACHE (c)
10 TOAFOFOA SIPLEY
11 OFAHIKI OGDEN
12 MATIU LOVE-HENRY
13 JAZZ TEVAGA
Interchange:
14 SHELDON PITAMA
15 AMONI TUFUI
16 WESLEY TAUTI
17 ISAIAH COOPER-TETEVANO
18 JOSEPH PRICE
20 ROMAN TUHIMATA
COACH: KELVIN WRIGHT
