The Warriors have been smashed 46-12 by the Raiders at Mt Smart tonight, and there’s no use blaming the referees for this woeful performance.
The Raiders struck the first blow in the 11th minute, with Auckland local Iosia Soliola busting through a weak tackle attempt by Nikorima then using his pace to get around Roger Tuivasa-Sheck to slide over. Jarrod Croker converted to make the score 6-0.
Gerard Beale went close to hitting back for the home side shortly after, but was bundled into touch just short of the line in a great tackle by Croker.
But an extended period of possession and territory by the Raiders led to a series of repeat sets on the Warriors’ line. Josh Papalii cashed in after some more slack defence, this time on the other side of the field, cruising through some turnstile-like efforts at tackling by Jazz Tavaga and Isiah Papali’i. All of a sudden the score was 12-0 and the Warriors had barely used the football in the opposition half, with a quarter of the game gone.
By now, the possession stakes were at a dreadful two-thirds deficit at the Warriors’ expense, and it didn’t get much better as the game neared halftime. In fact, it got much worse from a scoreline perspective as Josh Hodgson sent a perfect kick along the deck for Michael Oldfield to run onto and score 10 metres in from touch. Croker was once again on target with the kick, pushing the lead out to 18-0. Just to make things worse, Nikorima was forced from the field with an ankle injury.
But the Raiders weren’t done toying with the hapless Warriors just yet. Some slick hands from Hodgson and Croker opened up a gap on the left edge that sent Bailey Simonsson away for a try, and just to rub some salt in the wound the key offload from Hodgson looked to be blatantly forward. If that wasn’t enough, Joseph Tapine crossed off the next set to essentially end the game as a contest before halftime. Again Croker sent the ball over the black dot both times and the teams went to the break with the score looking bleak for the Warriors at 30-0.
New Warriors signing Josh Curran was injected after the resumption, and immediately made a difference as the home side finally enjoyed a decent run of possession. He got busy on a set near the goal line, recording three hit-ups in a set which set up space for Chanel Harris-Tavita to finally get the Warriors on the board after 53 minutes. However, that was swiftly cancelled out by another try to former All Black Sevens rep Simonsson.
Hodgson, who had a fantastic game all round, was rewarded with a try of his own after 64 minutes to complete the utter rout. Harris-Tavita tacked on another try to claw back just a little bit of respectability with seven minutes to go, but it was merely a band-aid on a gaping wound. Just to make sure they had the final say, Jack Wighton stepped his way through some non-existent defence to push the score out to 46-12 after Soliola was given the last conversion.
The heat is now on coach Stephen Kearney to salvage something in the last five weeks of the regular season. However, their draw is not exactly an easy one; with the Sea Eagles, Roosters, Sharks, Rabbitohs and Raiders again all looking like tough assignments. At this rate, this could be one of the worst seasons ever for the Auckland-based club.
Raiders 46 (B Simmonson 2, I Soliola, J Papalii, M Oldfield, J Tapine, J Hodgson, J Wighton tries; J Croker 6 goals, Soliola goal)
Warriors 12 (C Harris-Tavita 2 tries; Harris-Tavita 2 goals)