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A late St George Illawarra flurry had nerves jangling but the One New Zealand Warriors had enough points in the bank to hold on for a 36-30 victory in today’s round seven Jersey Flegg Cup (under-21) match at Go Media Stadium.
After leading 24-6 at halftime, the Warriors were seemingly on course for a healthy win when halfback Jett Cleary scored and converted his own try to put his side 36-12 ahead.
What should have been a comfortable triumph wasn’t to be, though, as the Dragons rattled on three converted tries in the space of 11 minutes to be just six points ahead with two minutes to play.
They pressed for a fourth try only to lose possession allowing the relieved Warriors to negotiate the final seconds to secure their second win in three matches. The result pushed them up to five points to vault to ninth on the ladder.
As has been their wont, the Warriors made a good start with three tries in the opening 21 minutes to push them into a 16-0 lead.
Match: Warriors v Dragons
Round 7 -
home Team
Warriors
9th Position
away Team
Dragons
13th Position
Venue: Go Media Stadium, Auckland
They were in business just two minutes in when they went to their left, Cleary’s long ball giving centre Jarome Falemoe scope to move as he pushed through and then nudged a grubber towards the Dragons’ in-goal for winger Harry Tauafiafi-Iutoi to hunt down for the opening try.
Cleary’s splendid conversion was followed by Kahu Capper scoring the second 14 minutes later. It came courtesy of a Cleary grubber, ricocheting off legs and straight into Capper’s hands for a run to the line beating two defenders on the way.
The third try had Cleary’s hands all over it, a lovely show and go taking him through the line on 35-metre break. Knocked off balance, he pulled off a remarkable flick pass as he was going down for winger Ezekiel Davidson-Faaiuaso to score wide out.
After the Dragons hit back, Warriors hooker Jaydee Auloa used his guile to cross from dummy half and Cleary provided a penalty for a commanding 24-6 advantage at the break.
A Dragons try straight after halftime may have been a concern but, unlike some performances in recent weeks, the Warriors settled down and came back with two tries.
The first resulted from another defensive error from a grubber, Dragons fullback Wesley Pring failing to clean up with the ball falling into second rower Jackson’s Kite’s hands for the easiest of tries.
With big interchange forward Emosi Ravosai making a real impact, the Warriors came back again minutes later when Cleary stepped off his right and then straightened to score.
At 36-12 the Warriors were in control only to relax in the final quarter, not helped by two tries to winger David Afu that came off forward passes not picked up by the officials.
Cleary finished with 16 points from a try and six goals.
