Wing Tomas Aoake’s hat-trick propelled the Vodafone Junior Warriors to a 30-14 win over Canterbury-Bankstown on Sunday setting up a week one finals clash against the Sydney Roosters on Friday night.
The result cemented the Vodafone Junior Warriors in seventh spot in the minor premiership phase of the season, level on points with Canberra but ahead on points for and against.
It means the Vodafone Junior Warriors have extended their achievement of making the finals in each of the eight seasons the NYC has been in existence.
The Vodafone Junior Warriors were in control of Sunday’s encounter with the Bulldogs for most of the journey.
They opened up impressively by creating Aoake’s try and another for prop Tualima Tualima to hold a 12-0 lead.
By halftime they were ahead 22-4 with two more tries for the prolific Aoake and from then on they dictated terms, finishing off the scoring with a late penalty.
Match details | ANZ Stadium, Sydney
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 14 (Marcello Montoya 2, Brad Keighran tries; Guy Hamilton conversion).
Vodafone Junior Warriors 30 (Tomas Aoake 3, Tualima Tualima, Erin Clark tries; Brad Abbey 4 conversions, penalty).
Halftime: 22-4 Vodafone Junior Warriors.
Referee: Jon Stone.
Vodafone Junior Warriors | Brad Abbey; Tomas Aoake, Junior Pauga, Semisi Tyrell, Paul Ulberg; Kauri Aupouri, Erin Clark; Tualima Tualima, Casey Lafaele, Mattais Heimuli; Ofahiki Ogden, Jazz Tevaga (c); Matiu Love-Henry. Interchange: Paul Tuli, Tyler Mohi, Joseph Price, Amoni Tufui.
