Jersey Flegg Team List: Playing catch-up

Rather than having a week-off for a scheduled competition-wide bye round, the One New Zealand Warriors’ Jersey Flegg Cup (under-21) side has a catch-up game against the Rabbitohs in Sydney on Saturday (12.00pm kick-off local time; 2.00pm NZT).

The fifth-round match was originally set down for Saturday, April 6 but was among a number of games postponed when extreme weather in Sydney forced the closure of many grounds.

Most of these games are being played this weekend.

After putting together two wins and a draw in their previous three outings, the Warriors lost 22-24 to the Sydney Roosters last weekend leaving them down the table and facing another tough opponent in the fifth-placed South Sydney.

With injuries to NRL players biting hard, the trickle-down effect means the Jersey Flegg Cup side will be without fullback Motu Pasikala and prop Toby Crosby who have been pushed up to play for the New South Wales Cup team. Crosby scored two powerful tries in the Flegg match, his second a dazzling solo effort from 45 metres out.

Apart from Pasikala and Crosby, the New South Wales Cup squad this week boasts a number of other Jersey Flegg-eligible players in centre Sio Kali, standoff Luke Hanson, props Zyon Maiu’u and Tanner Stowers-Smith, hooker Makaia Tafua, second rower Eddie Ieremia and interchange forwards Jaydee Auloa, Leka Halasima and Kayliss Fatialofa.