The New Zealand Warriors squandered a chance to equal their best away record in the National Rugby League with a tackle-shy performance condemning them to a 36-24 loss at the hands of a resurgent Sharks at Toyota Park in Sydney today.
The Warriors leaked seven tries - including three in the
final quarter of the first half - when shoddy defence helped propel the Sharks to a 26-12 advantage.
Although they bounced back with tries either side of halftime to pull the score back to 24-26, the home side sealed the victory when replacement Dean Bosnich scored in the 65th minute.
The Warriors, who were seeking to equal the seven away victories they recorded in their maiden season back in 1995, dropped to third after the Broncos headed St George-Illawarra 34-22 to vault into second spot behind the Bulldogs.
A bright start saw the visitors jump out to a 12-4 lead with captain Stacey Jones instigating tries to centre John Carlaw and Motu Tony, the tries coming in a bizarre 12 minute period that saw five touchdowns as both sides fell off straightforward tackles.
Carlaw collected a grubber kick from his captain to open the scoring after nine minutes but he turned villain minutes later when opposite Paul Franze broke his tackle and plunged over in the desperate grasp of Jones to put the Sharks on the board.
A Brett Kimmorley knock-on 25m out resulted in Jones stepping prop Jason Steven to put Tony over by the posts.
Halfback Kimmorley was able to atone when five minutes later when he bounced off Kevin Campion to score handy to the posts.
Sharks captain David Peachey capitalised on a handling error from Henry Fa'afili two minutes later and Carlaw was again culpable when Nick Graham took the Sharks to 22-12 when he ghosted through an attempted tackle.
The Warriors close-in defence was exploited when hooker Pat Gibson burrowed over to score as the Sharks built a 14-point buffer.
The Warriors, who looked hesitant on attack in the face of rugged Sharks tackling, pulled a try back in the dying stages of the first half when SeuSeu was first to a Tony grubber kick although the video referee Chris Ward needed a lengthy adjudication before deciding the prop had not knocked the ball on.
Tony's second try four minutes into the second spell hinted at a Warriors comeback but a glut of handling errors and astute tactical play from Kimmorley limited the Warriors' attacking opportunities from then on.
Peachey was at fault when he flapped a Jones kick forward into Tony's arms but, like Kimmorley before him, he made amends with the Sharks' first points of the second spell when he slipped over out wide. It gave the home side a six-point advantage heading into an error-ridden final quarter.
The victory was the Sharks' fourth in succession leaving them in seventh place.
- NZPA
The New Zealand Warriors squandered a chance to equal their best away record in the National Rugby League with a tackle-shy performance condemning them to a 36-24 loss at the hands of a resurgent Sharks at Toyota Park in Sydney today.
The Warriors leaked seven tries - including three in the
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