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After facing a big early deficit the One New Zealand Warriors roared back into contention but ultimately couldn’t haul in Manly Warringah in their first-round SG Ball Cup (under-19) contest at 4 Pines Park in Sydney on Sunday.

While the result favoured the home side 28-14 it didn’t capture the fight the Warriors made of a battle played in hot conditions.

Indeed, the weather played a significant role on the game when the halftime break had to be extended to almost half an hour after an official needed treatment due to the effects of the heat.

That impacted on the Warriors who had seized the momentum going into halftime but then had to cool their heels.

They had opened the match slowly as the Sea Eagles benefited from six again rulings and penalties to dominate possession and field position. Defending too many back-to-back sets took its toll on the Warriors as they conceded three tries in the opening 20 minutes.

It said much for their resilience that they were able to halt the flow of points and respond with two tries of their own in the space of five minutes before the halftime break.

Both came directly from left edge scrum plays, the first in the 27th minutes as centre Hiraka Waitai-Haenga steamed onto a short ball from standoff Noah Jensen.

For the second, fullback Meihana Pauling was at first receiver with Waitai-Haenga outside him but Pauling fooled Manly’s defence with a show and go to score himself.

At 10-16 at halftime the Warriors were right in it and, despite the long break, started the second term well going to their left again to work a try for winger Compton Purcell to be just 14-16 behind with 20 minutes to play.

The Warriors couldn’t hold onto the momentum, though, with the Sea Eagles grabbing two more tries in four minutes to seal the result.

First-year One New Zealand Warriors head coach Shannon Rushworth said co-captain Augustino Filipo was impressive in the middle while Militoni Sikuvea and Elijah Solomona brought energy off the bench.  

As well as providing a lot of the side’s attack, Jensen, second rower Te Paeroa Wi Neera, Waitai-Haenga and Compton defended well on the left edge.  

The Warriors return to Sydney for another SG Ball-Harold Matthews doubleheader when they meet the Panthers at HA Laybutt Field on Sunday.

In other round one SG Ball games, South Sydney thumped St George 58-12, the Sydney Roosters did the same to North Sydney with a 56-12 win, Cronulla Sutherland saw off Penrith 26-18, Wests Tigers beat Western Suburbs 28-16, Canberra toppled Canterbury Bankstown 40-22, Parramatta won 36-10 over Newcastle and Illawarra triumphed 20-12 against Melbourne.

Acknowledgement of Country

The New Zealand Warriors honour the mana of the Indigenous peoples of Aotearoa, Australia and the Pacific. We acknowledge the traditional kaitiaki of the lands, elders past and present, their stories, their traditions, their mamae and their mana motuhake.

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