Debutant second rower Bishop Neal and halfback Ashton Ulaula-Ieremia both bagged try-scoring doubles to push the One New Zealand Warriors to a strong 28-10 win over Manly Warringah as they started their defence of the Harold Matthews Cup (under-17) premiership in Sydney on Sunday.
Ulaula-Ieremia also slotted four conversions from five attempts for a total of 16 points as the Warriors took the field for the first time since their grand final win over Western Suburbs last April.
The TJ Ashford-coached side is vastly changed from last season with just two players back from the grand final line-up while three others appeared only once last year.
One of those was Ulaula-Ieremia whose one outing was cut short when he was injured in the season-turning victory over South Sydney.
He was paired in the halves with grand finalist and new captain Tyson Hansen for the season opener at 4 Pines Park, leaving his his mark with his first try nine minutes into the second half when he shot over from dummy half.
Match: Sea Eagles v Warriors
Round 1 -
home Team
Sea Eagles
away Team
Warriors
Venue: 4 Pines Park, Sydney
He was over again 11 minutes later when he loomed up in support on a right edge play, using his power to shrug off multiple defenders and then converted to give the Warriors a commanding 24-10 lead.
Earlier the Sea Eagles had opened the scoring only six minutes in when the Warriors were unable to clean up a kick near their line.
That was negated in the 20th minute when 16-year-old Neal powered over defenders wide out on the left with Ulaula-Ieremia unerring with the conversion to level it up.
In between Ulaula-Ieremia’s two tries, Amasio Tiatia provided real value off the bench when he exploded out of dummy half for another close-range try.
The last of the scoring was provided five minutes from fulltime by St Thomas of Canterbury College student Neal. On a short side play, he was again too much for the Manly defence to handle as he took would-be tacklers with him to score.
After a slow start to the contest, the Warriors found their range aided in no small measure by key contributions off the bench.
In the other games in the first round South Sydney beat St George 32-8, North Sydney edged the Sydney Roosters, Cronulla Sutherland accounted for Penrith 30-16, beaten grand final Western Suburbs overpowered 42-4, Canterbury Bankstown beat Canberra 22-18, Parramatta headed Newcastle 24-20 and Illawarra trounced Melbourne 42-6.
The One New Zealand Warriors are away again next Sunday when they travel to Sydney to take on the Panthers.
