Shaun Johnson leads Warriors to first win in Newcastle thrashing
THINGS have finally clicked for the Warriors with the boys from New Zealand firing against an ordinary Newcastle side to secure their first win of the season.
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ONLY time will tell but Newcastle may just have awoken the NRL’s sleeping giant in Auckland.
A rampant Warriors, with Shaun Johnson finally producing something close to his best form, overran the Knights in the second half for just their first win of the season.
Three Warriors tries in nine minutes just after halftime dramatically changed the game after the scores were locked at 12-all at the break.
With his side suddenly on the front foot, Johnson brushed off a quiet start to the season to ice the Knights with a brilliant solo try for a win that will take some of the heat off embattled coach Andrew McFadden.
The Knights were the better side in the first half but a lack of discipline and no possession early in the second saw them fall apart with their defence crumbling under the pressure.
If the second half capitulation wasn’t bad enough, coach Nathan Brown also has dramas looking ahead to Saturday’s clash with Melbourne in Melbourne and a dreaded five-day turnaround.
Two of his players, Danny Levi and Nathan Ross, are on report for chicken wing tackles.
Levi should escape sanction but Ross could be in trouble after dangerous twisting the arm of Conrad Hurrell.
Winger Jake Mamo also left the field with injury in the second half.
The Warriors went into the game risking a record 12th straight NRL defeat but got the start they were after just four minutes in.
After benefiting from an early penalty, they went on the attack with fullback Roger Tuivasa-Sheck putting a move on to bamboozle Pat Mata’utia before giving his centre Solomone Kata a free run to the line.
But Newcastle wasn’t fazed by the setback, hitting back to square the ledger at 6-6 not long after when prop Sam Mataora burst through Issac Luke and Ben Matolino to score next to the uprights.
The Warriors struggled to mount any sort of pressure and a couple of errors from halfback Jeff Robson gave the Knights another opportunity with Dane Gagai making the most of it to cross for a 12-6 advantage after 13 minutes.
Knights hooker Danny Levi was put on report for an alleged chicken wing tackle and the penalty closing in on halftime gave the Warriors the chance they needed to level things up at the break.
Big Ben Matolino burst through Lachlan Fitzgibbon from close range to cross under the posts.
If it was an even money bet at halftime given little separated the teams in the opening 40 minutes, the second half was a home side procession.
The Warriors scored inside two minutes through centre Blake Ayshford after a fortuitous Johnson kick with the try opening the floodgates.
Johnson was involved again when winger Tulmoala Lolohea crossed in the corner and then the Beast Manu Vatuvei made it three tries in nine minutes for a 24-12 advantage and the game was as good as over.
WARRIORS 40 (B Ayshford S Johnson S Kata T Lolohea I Luke B Matulino M Vatuvei tries S Johnson 6 goals) bt NEWCASTLE 18 (D Gagai S Mataora N Ross tries T Hodkinson 3 goals) at Mt Smart Stadium. Referee: Chris James, Adam Devcich. Crowd: 13,895.
Originally published as Shaun Johnson leads Warriors to first win in Newcastle thrashing
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