It wasn’t all bad, as they crossed for five tries and banked another win in Australia, but a lotof it was below par.
They struggled to subdue a Titans team that battled with 12 men for 63 minutes, with the result only sealed with Dallin Watene-Zelezniak’s 75th-minute try.
The timing, passing and ball handling was off for much of the night, which allowed a courageous Gold Coast outfit to stay in the contest for much longer than they should have.
The 28-18 victory cements the Warriors’ top-four position but it won’t be a game that is recalled fondly.
“Everybody understands the expression winning ugly and sometimes you have to do it,” said Webster. “But everyone [in the team] understands that definitely was ugly [and] it is not where we want to be.”
The Warriors looked out of sync from the start. They tried to go wide too early and were shut down by eager defence, before Titans prop Moeaki Fotuaika was marched for a awful high shot on Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad in the 17th minute.
Warriors coach Andrew Webster during a training session. Photo / Photosport
“The Titans came to play and made us work for it,” said Webster. “But we have got to make some adjustments when different things change. Our boys tried hard again but the way we executed, the way we played, it’s just not what we want to do.”
The Warriors completed at 71 per cent, with 12 handling errors and 35 missed tackles. Ultimately it didn’t matter but it’s not a template for positive results in September. That was the genesis of Webster’s frustration, as the display was a step back on the recent gains made.
He didn’t want to comment on the sending off, which was the second in two days after none since round two.
“I’ll leave that to the judiciary,” said Webster.
Titans coach Jimmy Lenihan was more forthcoming, arguing a sinbinning would have been sufficient.
“I don’t know if it justifies at that point to probably ruin the game,” said Lenihan. “It put us under a hell of a lot of pressure. It’s unfortunate, no one wants to see that but it’s a body contact sport played at high velocity and those kind of things will happen from time to time. I don’t think Mo at any point was trying to do anything maliciously or hurt anyone. The send off was harsh.”
Webster said Nicoll-Klokstad was “really good, considering”, after he spent a long time getting treatment following the tackle. He will miss at least one match but Webster didn’t have any long-term concerns.
A high point was the performance of halfback Shaun Johnson, who broke the match open with two first half tries then controlled the tempo after the interval with a clever kicking game.
Webster said Johnson “showed the way” with his patient approach, which eventually paid off.
Shaun Johnson, of the Warriors, in action. Photo / Photosport
The forward unit was effective when they needed to be, with Addin Fonua-Blake (169 running metres), Mitch Barnett (165) and Tohu Harris (142) laying a decent platform, even if the Warriors didn’t make the most of it. Jazz Tevaga got 30 minutes in a long-awaited return while young fullback Taine Tuaupiki underlined his potential with another mature display in a difficult situation.
But not too much flowed, with a sense that players were trying too hard, given the numerical advantage, and were also rusty, coming off the bye.
However, the third-placed Warriors are in a great spot, with three of their last four matches in New Zealand, though Webster refuses to discuss possible permutations of their lofty position.
“I just want to win as many games as we can and do it in the way we want to do it and I want to walk off proud of the performance,” said Webster.
“We didn’t nail what we wanted to do and we didn’t adjust so we’ve got to get better at that. We’re not focused on anything bar the Tigers in Hamilton.”
