The odds were against the Warriors on Saturday afternoon, but they managed to shock everyone by thrashing the Roosters 30-6.
MATCH DETAILS
The Warriors were on the back foot this weekend as they were going head-to-head with the premiership favourites on their home soil. The Warriors came out strong and scored four tries to one. The Roosters look flustered as the Warriors piled on the pressure, causing them to make mistakes and allow the Kiwi side to run away with the win.
FOUR POINTERS
Mason Lino Shines in his First NRL Win
The announcement of Shaun Johnson’s absence was hard for Warriors fans. Mason Lino was selected to replace the five-eighth in his 10th outing since his 2015 debut. Lino was everywhere on the field with his strong defence, running it hard onto the line and creating havoc for Roosters defence, as well as his pinpoint goal kicking. He scored a try in the 11th minute and had a 100% kicking rate with 18 points overall. Johnson may have some competition once he recovers from his groin injury.
Discipline Shown by Warriors
One of the issues facing the Warriors has been discipline – throwing away possession, conceding far too many penalties and not following their game plan when under pressure. The Warriors looked like a completely different team on Saturday night: they followed their game plan through the whole game, kept control of the ball, completed their sets and remained calm and structured. They finished with an 80% completion rate with 32 of 40 sets and made 16 offloads.
Roosters off their Game
It wasn’t pretty for the Roosters. They had 38% possession, completed only 16 out of their 27 sets, conceded 11 penalties and made 13 errors. The Roosters were caught off guard as the Warriors stunned everyone with their precision and continual pressure.
Roosters’ Key Players Disappeared when Needed
The Roosters desperately needed a spark, but their key players were nowhere to be seen. Cronk made no offloads and only three runs while Tedesco made one offload and 14 runs. The Roosters were flustered and thrown off their game plan which left them unable to play in their normal precise fashion.
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
“We knew we had a good preseason, but we needed some evidence to show that we were on the right track.
“We’ve got that at the moment and now we need to stay grounded, keep focussed on our preparation from week to week.” – Andrew McFadden, NZ Warriors Assistant Coach.
“We showed signs of that last week – disrespecting the ball. There was no rhythm to get any flow of play.” – Trent Robinson, Sydney Roosters Head Coach.
THE RESULT
New Zealand Warriors 30
Tries: Mason Lino, Leivaha Pulu, Solomone Kata, David Fusitu’a
Goals: Mason Lino (7)
Sydney Roosters 6
Tries: Latrell Mitchell
Goals: Latrell Mitchell
https://nothingbutleague.com/2018/03/29/nrl-preview-new-zealand-warriors-vs-sydney-roosters/
