Warriors 34
Raiders 20
This was how it was supposed to be this season. The Warriors running riot at Mt Smart Stadium. Their new playmaking recruit, Joel Moon, taking them to the next level. Stacey Jones trotting about, all but clad in a dinner jacket, pushing telling passes and occasionally laying on a try
with a judicious kick.
It was a display so far removed from much of the tripe the Warriors have produced that the hardy 8812 in attendance - the smallest home crowd this year - were no doubt left wondering where it had been all year.
The Warriors were ambitious, dangerous and fluent. Sure, a Raiders side minus damaging prop Tom Learoyd Lahrs didn't offer much in the physicality stakes, but the Warriors in this mood would have bullied most opponents.
Switched back to the five-eighth role he was recruited to fill, Joel Moon put on a clinic. His kicking game contained range and accuracy, his running was incisive, passing crisp and option-taking spot on.
It is a touch ironic that, after an audition period that has seen Isaac John and Aaron Heremaia tried at five-eighth, it is the man discarded early in the season who has emerged as by far the most convincing candidate.
"We got Joel over here to play six and as it has turned out he has probably needed some time just playing," coach Ivan Clearly said. "It was good to get him back in that role. I still see that as his best position."
Moon's switch had flow-on effects, with Heremaia reverting to hooker and Lance Hohaia to centre. Ian Henderson went to the bench, while Russell Packer dropped out of the 17 altogether, replaced by Lewis Brown.
The changes were complemented by a shift in intent. Gone was an ultra-conservative approach, replaced by what sometimes appeared an offload-at-all-costs gameplan.
"It was a little bit rusty in terms of we made some breaks and we probably weren't used to doing that," said Cleary. "But it was good to see them playing with a bit of freedom, a bit of confidence."
An attacking playbook that for much of the year has seemed to contain little more than a Stacey Jones to Manu Vatuvei crosskick also seemed to have been rewritten, with much of the attack channelled right through Moon. The rewards were immediate.
Moon started a flowing move with a half-break and an offload to Wade McKinnon, bullocking secondrower Ukuma Ta'ai provided the support and a final pass to the streaking Hohaia.
Heremaia crossed from a lightning dart out of dummy half and a 12-0 lead would have been greater had Kevin Locke found Hohaia instead of the sideline after another lively raid.
Having lived by the sword, the Warriors then did their best to impale themselves. Four blown sets in a row invited the Raiders back into the contest. Jerome Ropati coughed the ball up from an ambitious first-tackle scrum play and, having been handed prime field position, the Raiders accepted the gift, halfback Josh McCrone beating Mannering for pace on an angled run to the line.
Another Raiders try all but erased the Warriors' promising start. But Mannering - who departed early with a knee injury - barged over from close range just before the break and Ropati seized a Moon bomb 13 minutes into the second half.
The Raiders have not won in Auckland since 2001 and the chances of that happening all-but disappeared when Hohaia latched on to Jones' neat chip to score his second. Moon then got in on the act, slicing through to cap a fine display.
Two late Raiders tries reduced the margin, but did little to take the gloss off what was just the Warriors' second victory in their last nine games.
