The Warriors stormed home with three tries in the last six minutes to topple the Bulldogs 42-18 at Mt Smart Stadium on Friday night.
With Tohu Harris and Addin Fonua-Blake turning on the power and Shaun Johnson winding down the clock, the Warriors sent the parish Auckland crowd home happy with a seven-try-to-three win.
The Warriors opened the scoring after seven minutes when Johnson put center Viliami Vailea in a huge hole and the youngster celebrated his return from a broken jaw with a try.
Just four minutes later, the home side were back in when Dallin Watene-Zelezniak intercepted a pass from Matt Burton and raced 85 meters to score his eighth try of the season. Reece Walsh’s conversion made it 12-0.
The Bulldogs were able to hit back in the 17th minute when Burton was reduced to a meter and a quick through ball gave Jake Averillo the chance to head over from close range.
A mistake in the first set after the Bulldogs’ points gave the Warriors field position and Edward Kosi made them pay when he ended Johnson and Walsh’s lead.
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Vailea opens the scoring
The Bulldogs struck first after the break when Walsh spilled a ball yards from his own tryline and Kyle Flanagan picked up the scraps to post his third try of the season. Burton’s conversion reduced the margin to six.
Euan Aitken looked to have extended the Warriors’ lead in the 49th minute when he held off three defenders and reached out to plant the ball, but replays showed he had lost control.
Just two minutes later, the Bulldogs equalized when Josh Addo-Carr picked up a pass from Johnson and sprinted 90 meters to score, but the Warriors continued to pile on the pressure and crossed for their fourth try through Eliesa Katoa in the minute 57 to lead 24-18.
With 12 minutes to play, the Warriors looked to have extended their lead when Freddy Lussick found Josh Curran after being bombed by Johnson, but replays showed Watene-Zelezniak hit on the bounce.
It was Warriors favorite son Johnson who put the game out of reach with a trademark solo try in the 75th minute as Stacey Jones’ men cruised home 30-18.
Kosi then finished off the first work of Reece Walsh to complete his double and the score had reached 36-18.
Fonua-Blake capped off a superb game when he scored his first try of the season to round off a big win.
Snapshot of the match
- Bulldogs center Braidon Burns was booked in the seventh minute after a late challenge on Warriors kicker Daejarn Asi.
- Matt Burton, five-eighth for the Bulldogs, reported in the 35th minute for a shoulder charge.
- Addin Fonua-Blake had an outstanding 33 minutes to start the game for the Warriors with 104 meters from nine runs.
- Bulldogs winger Josh Addo-Carr has scored 16 tries in his last 15 games.
- Warriors winger Edward Kosi has scored seven tries in his last four games.
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Bulldogs bite each other
- Dallin Watene-Zelezniak wound back the clock with a long-range try and 208 yards rushing for the Warriors.
- The Warriors racked up 37 tackle breaks to the Bulldogs’ 17.
- Tohu Harris ran for 223 meters for the Warriors and racked up 33 tackles for good measure.
- Shaun Johnson was all over the place for the home side with two try assists, two lineout assists and a lineout assist.
- The Bulldogs have not won at Mt Smart Stadium since 2012.
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Johnson seals it
game of the game
With the Bulldogs down by six and desperately defending their line, Josh Addo-Carr made a huge play when he anticipated Shaun Johnson’s long pass and made an interception. From a standing start, ‘The Foxx’ sped down and raced 90 meters for the 118th try of his 147-game career. After failing to score a try in his first five games in Canterbury colours, Addo-Carr has burst into action with two hat-tricks and three braces in the following 15 games.
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Foxx is flying
what they said
“It was a big focus for us all week around attitude. A change in mindset from what we had the week before. You can fix attitude in a week, you can’t fix a lot of structure and obviously coming home, there’s a It’s a good sign that really drives this group, once the team gets back into the routine [next year] and these boys are in a good mood with their family around them. Today’s performance was on the backs of the players bringing energy, but also playing in front of your crowd and what they bring.” – Warriors coach Stacey Jones
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Warriors: Round 22
“I wasn’t happy with a lot of things we did defensively, we’ve got to be a lot better there. We’re not pressuring the opposition enough to wear them down and they’re pressuring us, and that’s all. to do with our defense. We have to fix that and stop them from making as many yards as they are.” – Bulldogs coach Mick Potter
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Bulldogs: Round 22
What follows
The Warriors head to Townsville to face the Cowboys in Round 23 before a daunting trip to face Penrith in Round 24 and a final round celebration in front of their own fans against the Titans on 3 September They should have Jesse Arthars and Chanel Harris-Tavita. back on deck next week and enforcer Ben Murdoch-Masila the week after.
The Bulldogs face a tough run home with clashes against the Eels (a), Sharks (a) and Sea Eagles (h).
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