Victory was again close but snatched away late as the One New Zealand Warriors lost 18-22 to Western Suburbs in their sixth-round SG Ball Cup (under-19) encounter in Sydney on Sunday.
There were echoes of their heartbreaking 26-28 loss to Illawarra two weeks ago when they were stunned in the final minutes after leading that contest.
This time they were in front by two points with eight minutes to play but then conceded a try and couldn't regain the advantage.
The Warriors had started unconvincingly as the Magpies opened with two tries for an 8-0 lead but from then on there was little in it.
With fullback Joseph Ratcliffe featuring twice, the Warriors stitched together a well-constructed try started from their own 20-metre line.
It finished with interchange hooker Rico Lemalie, loose forward Paea Sikuvea and halfback Maui Winitana-Patelesio all handling before second rower Kahu Capper served up a sweet pass for centre Mason Lome-Hindle to score.
Then nine minutes later Lemalie embarrassed the Magpies’ ruck defence when he speared over from dummy half.
Match: Magpies v Warriors
Round 6 -
home Team
Magpies
away Team
Warriors
Venue: Kirkham Oval, Camden
Coming off a heavy defeat to Melbourne last week, the Warriors had responded well to be level at 12-12 at halftime.
There was more to follow straight after halftime when they carried the ball with plenty of intent before a wide shift to the right where Winitana bounced off his right foot, broke the line and found Elijah Solomona backing up inside for another splendid try.
With Capper’s conversion, the Warriors had a narrow but invaluable 18-12 lead with most of the second half to go.
When Western Suburbs struck a few minutes later with an unconverted try, the margin was down to 18-16.
Errors at key times worked against the Warriors as they sought a follow-up try; eventually it was the home side which found a way through in the arm wrestle, scoring and converting to lead 22-16 with six minutes to play.
The Warriors had opportunities and in the dying seconds centre Lome-Hindle made a searching run to within 15 metres of the line. With the last play of the match, Winitana-Patelesio bombed to the left, Militoni Sikuvea and Keepa competed for the ball but Magpies fullback Riley Oitman pouched the ball to deny seal victory for his side.
The Warriors have this week off but are back in Sydney on Sunday, March 23 to meet the Dragons at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium.
