Warriors succeed over Gold Coast

v BYE

The New Zealand Warriors have kept their impressive form going after consigning the Titans to a second loss in a row after a 27-18 victory at Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland.

#Mannering250 started very badly for the Warriors when Shaun Johnson put in an awful kick that went perfectly to Josh Hoffman who raced away 70m to get the opening points inside the first three minutes of the half. The Warriors defence looked patchy early but it didn't take long for the Warriors to take revenge on Josh Hoffman's 70m effort when Tyrone Roberts long pass found Blake Ayshford on the chest and he took the opportunity of 90m of space and he scored to level the scores inside the opening 10 minutes.

The Warriors then looked to find their feet but in true Warriors style they coughed up easy possession and off the back of a repeat set the Titans found the front again when Nene McDonald flew high to take a catch and came back to earth and scored the try in the 20th minute but they could only keep it at 4 points after Tyrone Roberts conversion hit the post.

Closing in on halftime one of the Warriors excitement machines Tui Lolohea could have pulled off one of the tries of the season when only Lolohea grounding the ball from almost the grandstand and despite an initial no try call live the bunker gave the Warriors the green lights on another exciting try.

The second half did not start well for the Titans especially debutant Karl Lawton who suffered a very serious ankle injury just 6 days after another Titans rookie Nathan Davis suffered a serious ankle injury.

A Tyrone Roberts penalty goal gave the Titans the lead for just 5 minutes when the Warriors managed to level up with their own penalty goal this time to Isaac Luke before another gave the Warriors the lead. Mount Smart Stadium roared and when that happens you know there is a piece of SJ magic and that was the case with Shaun Johnson scoring after racing away.

The Warriors sealed the game when Bodene Thompson scored carving up through some poor defence in the middle from the Titans and after the successful conversion the Warriors opened up a 14 point lead. 

The Titans scored a consolation try in the final few minutes to close the gap to 8 points before SJ finished the proceedings with a field goal to finish the game at 27-18.

Next weekend, both sides have the bye before in Round 19 the Titans have an away game to the Dragons whilst the Warriors travel to Brookvale to face Manly.