Tigers 50
Warriors 6
The injury-bedevilled Warriors finally reached breaking point last night, humiliated by the rampant Tigers in Sydney.
For pretty much the entire season, the Warriors have scrapped to keep their heads above water in the face of an injury jinx with an uncanny ability to hobble the team's best players.
Last
night they finally went under, succumbing to a Tigers side determined to expose every chink in their dilapidated armour.
Added to the absence of senior forward Steve Price and match-winning wing Manu Vatuvei, the loss of Sam Rapira, Micheal Luck and James Maloney proved the tipping point.
Last night's loss of halfback Brett Seymour to a knee injury of yet undisclosed severity poured more salt into the club's already gaping wounds.
For the first 30 minutes the scoreboard gave little hint of what was to come. The Warriors matched the error-prone Tigers, perhaps even bettered them. But from the outset, the danger signs were there.
As if scenting their foe were on their last legs, the Tigers pursued an ambitious game plan, spreading the ball to the flanks at every possibility.
Initially the strategy produced more errors than points. But as the Warriors faded the Tigers clicked into a top gear that few other sides - perhaps even no other - possess. The points flowed, and few Warriors escaped without having their reputations lowered a few pegs.
It wasn't a case of the floodgates opening. There were no gates. For the final 45 minutes of the match the Warriors were turnstiles.
The defensive intensity that laid the platform for worthy victories in the past two weeks disintegrated, trampled into the turf under a torrent of black and orange.
With half time approaching the Warriors would have been content enough.
Joel Moon's 26th-minute try from an overlooked Seymour forward pass had cancelled out Beau Ryan's early try for the Tigers, and Seymour's conversion has pushed the Warriors in front.
But two Tigers tries in the final three minutes of the half irreversibly altered the contest.
Having committed a host of early errors, the Tigers finally managed to add some execution to their intent.
Lote Tuqiri finished a neat scrum play, his job made easier by Kevin Locke drifting infield and unsuccessfully trying to close down Chris Lawrence.
The Warriors knew the Tigers were long-range specialists, but being forewarned didn't translate to being forearmed.
With seconds remaining in the half, Marshall shifted the ball right inside his own half and found Geoff Daniela.
The centre expertly drew Lance Hohaia and fed supporting hooker Robbie Farah on the inside for the Tigers' 11th try of the campaign from within their own territory.
Locke had a first-half try ruled out when Marshall dragged him onto the sideline chalk, and the young winger's fortunes showed little sign of improving as he slipped while passing to cough up possession.
Daniela made him pay with a try in the corner and the centre added a second moments later.
Seymour's departure only hastened the pace of the Warriors' decline, with Daniela completing a quickfire treble.
The Tigers smelled blood in the water, the only remaining question was how many points they would run up. Plenty was the answer.
In last night's other NRL game, St George Illawarra exacted a small measure of revenge on Parramatta for last year's final's loss with a thumping 30-0 hiding.
On the same ground at which the Eels sent the then minor premiers on their way out of the premiership race, the Dragons inflicted monumental damage on Parramatta's 2010 hopes with a five tries to nil shutout.
FULL TIME SCORE
Tigers 50
Warriors 6
