Perfect Johnson leads Warriors onslaught

A man of the match performance from Shaun Johnson has led the New Zealand Warriors to a comprehensive 54-12 victory over the Canberra Raiders in front on 18,165 jubilant fans at Eden Park.

The young Warriors halfback was unstoppable throughout the match, finishing with two tries and nine conversions and securing a personal tally of 26 points as everything he touched turned to gold.

It was obvious very early in the match that the Raiders had not turned up and were in for a long afternoon. The Warriors made a mockery of the Raiders defence, scoring three tries with their first three forays into the Raiders half, with Ben Matulino opening the scoring for the Warriors when he broke though very lazy Raiders defence in the 4th minute.

Matulino's opening try was followed quickly by two more soft Warriors tries before the match was even 20 minutes old. Konrad Hurrell scored a try which came out of nothing when he busted through the Raiders line before running 60 metres to score. Shaun Johnson added his own four pointer minutes later when an intercept saw him run 30 metres to score under the posts.

Raiders centre Jarrod Croker jumped over the top of the Warriors defence to score his side's first try on 21 minutes, but that was the closest they got to the Warriors who scored in the 33rd minute through Ngani Laumape to take a 24-6 lead to the break.

The second half saw no change in fortune for the Raiders as the Warriors put the match to bed early with three early tries to Shaun Johnson (46th minute), Sam Tomkins (48th minute) and Manu Vatuvei (52nd minute), which all but sealed the two points for the home team.

To the Raiders credit, they continued to throw the ball around and put in some enterprising kicks, but it was evident that it was just never going to be their day with unforced errors and lazy defence leaving them exposed far too often. The Warriors were happy to take advantage with two more tries to Jayson Bukuya and Manu Vatuvei rounding out a resounding victory for the home team and taking their score past the 50 point mark.

The Raiders did manage a consolation try on the siren to Jarrod Croker but it will do nothing to mask the horror of the onslaught they suffered in the preceding 80 minutes. The Raiders will have a lot of questions to answer about their commitment and attitude after conceding a total of 108 points in their last two games.

The question for the Warriors, however, will be about consistency and whether they can back up this strong performance with an equally strong one against the first placed Bulldogs next Sunday at Waikato Stadium.

NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS (54)
Tries: Ben Matulino, Shaun Johnson (2), Konrad Hurrell, Ngani Laumape, Sam Tomkins, Manu Vatuvei (2), Jayson Bukuya
Field Goals:
Conversions: Shaun Johnson (9/9)
Penalty Goals:

CANBERRA RAIDERS (12)
Tries: Jarrod Croker, Josh McCrone
Field Goals:
Conversions: Jarrod Croker (2/2)
Penalty Goals:

TEAM NEWS: The New Zealand Warriors have a few changes: Matulino starts at second row, Matagi to prop with Rapira out. Mannering to lock.

The Canberra Raiders are 1-17.

Welcome to Saturday afternoon football as the New Zealand Warriors host the Canberra Raiders from Eden Park.

Both teams have new coaches this year with plenty to prove as their teams languish towards the lower end of the table. These types of games between two under pressure teams can often turn into absolute crackers so stay tuned for kick off at 3pm.

KICK OFF at Eden Park. The Raiders will get first use of the ball.

2: Solid sets from each team to start the match.

3: PENALTY Warriors for a strip. They will get the first attacking opportunity of the match.

4: TRY NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Scored by Ben Matulino. Kick to come.
Wow that is some soft defence from the Raiders. Matulino runs through soft defence to score the opener.

6: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Conversion attempt by Shaun Johnson successful.
An easy conversion and it is 6-0.

8: Reece Robinson puts in a little grubber and Sam Tomkins does a great job to get out of his in goal.

9: TRY NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Scored by Konrad Hurrell. Kick to come.
Out of nowhere, Hurrell runs 60 metres to score the Warriors second try. Once again poor defence

10: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Conversion attempt by Shaun Johnson successful.
Johnson adds the extras from the sideline.

12: The Raiders allowing the Warriors to offload with ease at the moment as the Warriors pressure the Raiders line again.

13: A very high Campese bomb but Vatuvei takes it comfortably.

14: UNFORCED ERROR CANBERRA RAIDERS
Jarrod Croker makes an unforced error.
Hurrell PUMMELLS Croker and he can't hold onto it.

15: Milford is trapped in goal after a Warriors grubber. More pressure for the Raiders coming up.

17: UNFORCED ERROR NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Manu Vatuvei makes an unforced error.
Manu can't hold onto a Tomkins pass. He would have been in space too.

17: TRY NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Scored by Shaun Johnson. Kick to come.
Johnson takes an intercept and runs 30 metres to score. Raiders falling apart early. Could get ugly...

18: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Conversion attempt by Shaun Johnson successful.
Johnson converts his own try.

20: The Warriors let the restart bounce and they are tackled in goal. Line drop out coming up.

21: TRY CANBERRA RAIDERS
Scored by Jarrod Croker. Kick to come.
Croker jumps over the top of the Warriors from a kick to score the Raiders first try.

21: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION CANBERRA RAIDERS
Conversion attempt by Jarrod Croker successful.
Croker converts his own try.

24: PENALTY Raiders for a blatant strip.

25: UNFORCED ERROR CANBERRA RAIDERS
Jack Wighton makes an unforced error.
Jack Wighton gets close to scoring a some great interplay from the Raiders but then knocks on at the play the ball.

26: PENALTY Warriors for another strip.

27: Ordinary looking kick from Tomkins and it goes into touch.

29: A very good Raiders kick runs into touch less than a metre from the Warriors line.

30: Hurrell with ANOTHER break. He has been on absolute fire in the first 30 minutes.

31: UNFORCED ERROR CANBERRA RAIDERS
Josh McCrone makes an unforced error.
McCrone throws a lazy forward pass from dummy half. No excuse for that, just poor concentration.

32: UNFORCED ERROR CANBERRA RAIDERS
Matthew Allwood makes an unforced error.
Matthew Allwood knocks on trying for an unlikely intercept.

33: TRY NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Scored by Ngani Laumape. Kick to come.
Ngani Laumape scores in the corner after the ball goes through the Warriors hands from a scrum.

34: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Conversion attempt by Shaun Johnson successful.
Johnson increases the lead.

36: UNFORCED ERROR CANBERRA RAIDERS
David Shillington makes an unforced error.
Knock on and more pressure late for the Raiders.

37: UNFORCED ERROR NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Manu Vatuvei makes an unforced error.
Knock on from a scrum set piece.

38: UNFORCED ERROR CANBERRA RAIDERS
Terry Campese makes an unforced error.
A comedy of errors. No team can hold onto it at the moment. Another Warriors chance.

40: Raiders lucky to not concede again.

40: Johnson tries a chip to Laumape with the last play of the half but it doesn't come off as planned.

40: HALF TIME at Eden Park, and the Warriors lead the Raiders 24-6.

40: UNDERWAY for the second half.

41: UNFORCED ERROR NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Nathan Friend makes an unforced error.
First error of the half as Friend throws a forward pass from dummy half.

43: UNFORCED ERROR CANBERRA RAIDERS
Bill Tupou makes an unforced error.
Campese bombs it across field but Bill Tupou knocks on trying to bat it back.

43: UNFORCED ERROR NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Manu Vatuvei makes an unforced error.
A knock in in a dangerous position. Raiders start their set 20m out.

44: PENALTY Raiders - McCrone held up but the Warriors are offside.

46: TRY NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Scored by Shaun Johnson. Kick to come.
Johnson picks up a loose pass and runs the length of the field to score.

47: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Conversion attempt by Shaun Johnson successful.
Johnson converts another of his own tries.

48: TRY NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Scored by Sam Tomkins. Kick to come.
Another try which starts with Johnson who runs down the short side, and is ended nicely from Tomkins.

50: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Conversion attempt by Shaun Johnson successful.
Johnson extends the lead to 30 with 30 minutes remaining.

51: PENALTY Warriors after a high tackle from McCrone.

52: TRY NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Scored by Manu Vatuvei. Kick to come.
Now it is a Vatuvei try. A simple play to the left and the Raiders defence is abysmal again.

53: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Conversion attempt by Shaun Johnson successful.
Sideline conversion is good. 7/7 so far today.

55: Townsend with a lovely kick that finds touch a metre from the Raiders line.

57: An amazing stat, Warriors with just FOUR missed tackles for the match.

58: PENALTY Raiders and they go into the Warriors half.

58: Campese puts in an early kick into the Warriors in goal but Tomkins picks it up and easily gets back into the field of play.

59: A 20m restart for the Raiders after Johnson's kick is way to deep.

60: UNFORCED ERROR CANBERRA RAIDERS
Jarrod Croker makes an unforced error.
A high kick from Buttriss but Jarrod Croker knocks on in the contest.

60: UNFORCED ERROR NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Feleti Mateo makes an unforced error.
Mateo gives it straight back after knocking on while trying to force an offload.

61: Jayson Bukuya makes a break but is tackled into touch by the Raiders.

62: UNFORCED ERROR CANBERRA RAIDERS
Jarrod Croker makes an unforced error.
Another Raiders error as Croker knocks on again.

64: TRY NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Scored by Jayson Bukuya. Kick to come.
Jayson Bukuya scores the 8th Warriors try after good lead up work from Konrad Hurrell. Once again Johnson is involved as well.

65: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Conversion attempt by Shaun Johnson successful.
Johnson with another conversion. Hasn't missed today.

66: Johnson breaks the Raiders defence again but is stopped by an ankle tap.

67: PENALTY Raiders - to say they needed that is an understatement.

68: A good piece of play from the Raiders sees them trap Vatuvei in goal for a line drop out.

69: The Raiders with an opportunity down their right side attack but Reece Robinson juggles a pass before going into touch.

71: Ngani Laumape does well to catch a Johnson chip kick but is then forced into touch.

72: Some great work from Anthony Milford as he dances through the Warriors defence. He kicks for Croker who throws a pass into touch close to the Warriors line.

73: It seriously looks like the Warriors will score every time they have the ball.

74: VIDEO REF - we go upstairs for the first time this afternoon to look for obstruction. It was beautiful hands from the Warriors that sent Vatuvei into the corner for what may be his second try.

74: TRY NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Scored by Manu Vatuvei. Kick to come.
Vatuvei takes the Warriors past 50 points.

75: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Conversion attempt by Shaun Johnson successful.
Another successful conversion from Johnson.

78: UNFORCED ERROR CANBERRA RAIDERS
Josh Papalii makes an unforced error.
The Raiders are in good attacking position but Josh Papalii knocks it on. Just not their day.

80: McCrone tries a chip but a bit of scrappy play from both sides ends with a Raiders scrum 20m metres out from the Warriors line.

80: VIDEO REF - Croker may have scored here but the referees are checking the grounding.

80: TRY CANBERRA RAIDERS
Scored by Josh McCrone. Kick to come.
Consolation try for the Raiders but they have been comprehensively beaten today.

80: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION CANBERRA RAIDERS
Conversion attempt by Jarrod Croker successful.
Croker converts his own try from close to touch.

80: FULL TIME at Eden Park, with the Warriors defeating the Raiders 54-12.