Warrior forward power punishing disjointed Newcastle

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Warriors v Newcastle Knights

A dominant forward display from the New Zealand Warriors has guided them to a 26-12 victory over the Newcastle Knights in front of a provocial home crowd in Christchurch.

The game began at a frantic pace with both sides reduced to twelve men in the opening five minutes. Marata Niukore (NZ) and Leo Thompson (NEW) were sin-binned for high tackles in a dramatic opening sequence to the game.

Despite the chaos of the sin-bins inside the opening five minutes. The Warriors capitalised on their momentum with some nice linkup work from Luke Metcalf before finding Leka Halasima before being taken metres from the line. Moments later, a nice play to the right saw Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad go over in the right corner after seven minutes, the Bunker denied this one for obstruction.

Despite the initial setback, it was the kick that got the Warriors on the board. A bomb was not defused by Dane Gagai before quick hands from Kurt Capewell found Adam Pompey who claimed a try in the left corner. Despite some anxious moments, the Bunker confirmed the try.

The home side were cutting the visitors apart. A big break from Capewell set the Warriors up nicely as a beautiful pass from Metcalf allowed Taine Tuaupiki to appear to score a spectacular try, but the Bunker again found his foot on the sideline.

After a tense portion of rugby league, the Knights were denied via the Bunker. The first came as Greg Marzhew shrugged off several defenders to almost get the ball to the ground. The Warriors capitalised immediately on that misfortune with an air-raid targeting James Schiller. Pompey took it on the full and dumped it to Ali Leiataua before finding Jackson Ford to get the second try of the contest for the home side.

Newcastle were denied again minutes later as Dane Gagai was ruled to have knocked on and Schiller's first half wouldn't get any easier. Off the back of another error from the former Raider, the Warriors went on the attack and nailed a hammer blow on the Knights. Metcalf straightened the attack to find Erin Clark before a terrific offload to Ford allowed him to slide for a first-half double.

The second half began with a Newcastle lift. Gagai took the attack in his own hands as he broke away from Leiataua before passing back on the inside to Schiller who rebounded after a horror opening half to get the Knights on the board.

Just as the Knights were building, a loose Jack Cogger pass was intercepted by Luke Metcalf who looked for all money to score. A brave chase from Fletcher Sharpe brought him down. The damage was done in that set as Wayde Egan punished the defence to go over to score for the hosts.

The Warriors sealed the game just inside the final ten minutes, punishing the Knights for their errors out of yardage. Metcalf dug deep into the line, the ball appeared to take a touch off Chanel Harris-Tavita (backwards) before landing in Pompey's arms to score his second try of the contest.

The Warriors were deserved winners, showing their improvement on season 2025 so far. For Newcastle, their attack is disjointed, ugly to watch at times and very lateral. Questions will continue to linger on Adam O'Brien as coach if the attack continues to stall as it has throughout the month of April.