Slim hopes of playing finals football were dealt a critical blow when the One New Zealand Warriors lost 22-26 to Penrith in a thrilling Jersey Flegg Cup (under-21) contest at Trusts Stadium in Waitakere on Saturday.
Despite consecutive losses to the Dragons and Bulldogs in their previous two games, the Warriors were only three points off fifth spot going into the encounter with the Panthers.
A run of wins in their last four games of the regular season might have given them a chance of sneaking into the play-offs but Saturday’s defeat put an end to that.
It was quite the contest, though, as the Warriors pushed the third-placed Panthers all the way.
After falling 0-10 behind inside 19 minutes, they created a nice try on the left edge for centre Taipari Wikitera to go to the break with a 4-10 deficit.
Match: Warriors v Panthers
Round 23 -
home Team
Warriors
8th Position
away Team
Panthers
3rd Position
Venue: Trusts Stadium, Auckland
Then straight after halftime the Warriors locked it up at 10-10 when prop Krushil Koteka powered over between the posts.
Penrith opened out to 16-10 but then the Warriors countered, Jack Thompson’s bomb to the right batted back with second rower Connor Bowden collecting and getting through multiple defenders to make it 16-16.
The dream was alive only for the Panthers to strike twice to stretch to 26-16 with 10 minutes to play.
A 76th minute try to hooker Tama-Teahorangi Darlington brought the margin back to 22-26 but the Warriors couldn't find a possible match winner in the final moments.
