St George Illawarra Dragons prop Tyson Frizell relished the chance to lead by example in the 31-12 win over the New Zealand Warriors at Eden Park, Auckland on Saturday.
The Wales international admitted it was up to him and his fellow forwards to take charge in the cyclonic conditions and seize the two-points on offer.
Frizell, 22, backed up his sharp performance in round one against Wests Tigers with another strong display but credited the entire team for the great win.
“It was always going to be tough to come across and play well here in New Zealand and the weather conditions today made it even tougher, especially in the first half,” said Frizell.
“The wind played a big part but we knew that if we could stick to them in the first half against the breeze that we would have our opportunities in the second half and we were good enough to do that.
“We knew that with the conditions it was going to be a forwards game and we needed to muscle up in the middle and stay tight in defence and we did that well but we can always continue to improve.
“Our defence. Our goal line defence in particular was the most pleasing thing.
“We had plenty of repeat sets on our try line, the Warriors really came at us and the boys dug in deep and we held them out.
“We need to look at ourselves and where we need improve and hopefully we can build upon today when we face the Sharks next week.”
