They showed plenty of fight, but the Dragons were ultimately bested by the Warriors 31-26 in their Knock-On Effect NSW Cup clash at Auckland’s Go Media Stadium on Saturday.
Staring down the barrell of a 24-0 deficit, Willie Talau’s Dragons surged back into the contest managing to wrestle away the lead late before some late Luke Metcalf heroics proved the difference.
Match: Warriors v Dragons
Round 20 -
home Team
Warriors
8th Position
away Team
Dragons
11th Position
Venue: Go Media Stadium, Auckland
The Dragons were left to rue poor ball-handling and discipline in the opening exchanges.
Luke Laulilii got the Warriors on the board just three minutes in before a Dylan Coutts sin-bin invited the hosts to extend their lead.
With Coutts off the field, Jye Linnane took advantage of a Dragons drop to race close to 80 metres downfield and make it a double-digit game before Kayliss Fatialofa scored off a Luke Hanson burst to make it 18-0.
Charlie Heidke – who had spent the entirety of the season sidelined with a foot injury – was unfortunately helped from the field half an hour in after his head collided with the turf as he chased a kick.
The Warriors found another prior to the break with Fatialofa busting through and handing off inside to a supporting Luke Metcalf.
The Dragons were awarded a penalty as the half-time siren sounded handing them an opportunity to open their account via a penalty goal.
Nick Quinn went over early in the second stanza for the Red V to cut the deficit back to 24-8.
The Dragons ate further into the deficit with 25 minutes to play courtesy of Coutts who ran a beautiful inside line off Joseph O’Neill to go over.
Coutts dove over under the sticks to notch his second of the afternoon moments later off a brilliant Quinn offload as the Red V moved back within a try.
The Dragons’ incredible fightback continued with O’Neill sending a charging Ryan Hutchinson through a hole to score and level things at 24-apiece. Tyler Peckham-Harris added the extras in front to earn the visitors an unlikely lead.
The Warriors were able to lock things up at 26-all courtesy of a Metcalf penalty goal entering the final five minutes.
The home side marched downfield the next set and re-took the lead with Metcalf nailing a timely one-pointer before Rocco Berry found a late try to seal the win for the Warriors.
