The Warriors have held off a solid start for the Wentworthville Magpies before piling on the points at ANZ Stadium, emerging 36-6 victors in Round 13 of the Intrust Super Premiership.
Chanel Harris-Tavita, Tevita Satae and Anthony Gelling all had heavy involvements in the Warriors' win, which moves the side into seventh place on the ladder. The result, meanwhile, keeps the Magpies one spot lower and out of the top eight.
Match: WV Magpies v Warriors
Round 13 -
home Team
WV Magpies
9th Position
away Team
Warriors
6th Position
Venue: ANZ Stadium, Sydney
It was the Warriors who drew first blood, with a Lewis Soosemea try coming just three minutes into the contest. After an attacking grubber from Magpies five-eighth Piki Rogers went straight to Tevin Arona, who made a 60-metre dash downfield, the visitors made the most of the early opportunity. A Chanel Harris-Tavita pass cut out Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad to find Anthony Gelling, who tipped it on to Soosemea to score.
Despite enjoying a high rate of possession and completion rate in the opening half hour of play, it was the Warriors who continued to increase their lead with two more quick tries. A strong Tevita Satae run set up another chance for his side, and a fine dummy-half pass from Nicoll-Klokstad then moved the ball right to Johnny Tuivasa-Sheck, who scored.
Minutes later, Satae himself would further the Warriors' advantage, taking the ball from Chanel Harris-Tavita 20 metres out and charging through the Magpies defence, carrying three men to score.
John Teina's men had all the running and once again Harris-Tavita was involved in their next try. A simple ball to Gelling set up an easy try in the corner - and after the five-eighth missed all three of his previous conversion attempts, the tee was handed to Arona, who successfully added the extras. It left the Warriors with an 18-0 lead at half-time.
After an error of the restart, the Magpies looked to have bounced back when Yileen Gordon was held up over the line in the 35th minute. The Warriors were again next to score, however, as a Harris-Tavita 40-20 set up another attacking set before he passed to try-scorer King Vuniyawa.
A Warriors forward pass soon after brought a minor momentum shift, and Oregon Kaufusi barged through from close range to get the Magpies on the board.
The home side couldn't continue their run and the Warriors soon got back on the front foot, with Gelling and Harris-Tavita coming up with a 60-metre kick-return. Eventually, some enterprising play brought Vuniyawa's second try; after two offloads, the ball came to Sam Cook, who sent the ball right to Blake Ayshford to make a run down the western touchline. Ayshford passed inside to Vuniyawa, who was nearly dragged down before getting back up and making it a 30-6 scoreline.
Wentworthville hoped to have scored a late consolation try when Jaeman Salmon shifted play to the left, but a Kirisome Auva'a pass to Dane Aukavolau was ruled forward. Late in the game it would be Joseph Vuna to score, with a Ligi Sao offload helping the visitors move left towards the makeshift centre. With Arona's conversion attempt splitting the uprights, the final score was 36-6.
