NRL: Warriors cane Eels for third win

Lewis Brown of the Warriors in action. Photo / NZPA

A storming second half performance by the Warriors saw them overwhelm the Parramatta Eels 34-6 to score their third consecutive National Rugby League victory here today.

In front of nearly 10,000 fans on a cold and wet afternoon at Mt Smart Stadium, the Warriors overcame stiff resistance in the first half to run away with the match and put themselves into the top eight on the NRL table.

The Warriors controlled the early exchanges and were rewarded when Lewis Brown gathered a deflected Isaac John kick to score.

More looked to be coming shortly afterwards when Simon Mannering was held up over the line, but instead it was a surprise to see the Eels draw level with a 70m try.

A chip kick from right wing Krisnan Inu was regathered by second rower Brendan Oake, who quickly drew fullback Jerome Ropati to give Tom Humble an unopposed 30m sprint to the line and wing Luke Burt converted to level the scores.

Parramatta came back into the game and at one point they had the ball for four sets.

But they could not break the Warriors defence, and were made to pay when Warriors interchange forward Ben Matulino ran into a gap from an Ian Henderson pass to score near the goalposts to enable them to gain a 12-6 halftime lead.

The Warriors were again the better team at the start of the second half and were unlucky not to stretch their lead further when Maloney missed a 35m penalty in front of the goalposts and again when Jeremy Latimore dropped a ball close to the line.

But the pressure eventually paid off with 20 minutes to go when Ukuma Ta'ai took a pass from Maloney and stormed through three tacklers to dot down.

Maloney missed the conversion but took a second chance to stretch the lead to 12 points five minutes later, and from that point there was only one team in it.

Manu Vatuvei sealed the game when he wrestled the ball from future Warrior Inu in a one-on-one strip on the Eels line and fell over to score.

Maloney landed the sideline conversion to stretch the lead to 18 points, and he then added to his haul when he was on hand to support a Jerome Ropati break and dot down near the goalposts.

Lewis Brown stretched the margin to 28 points with a second try four minutes from fulltime, and Isaac John added a further point with a field goal in the last minute.

- NZPA