It was a cold Friday evening in Campbelltown as the Wests Tigers fell 32-6 to the Warriors in Round 19 of the Telstra Premiership.
An early sin binning to prop Bunty Afoa proved costly as the Warriors crossed twice in the 10 minutes the Tigers were reduced to 12 men.
The Tigers hit back through returning forward Samuela Fainu, who crossed for the side's opening try to cut the half-time deficit to eight points.
Despite a determined effort from the home side, it was not to be their night as they failed to capitalise on opportunities to concede 18 second-half points.
A highlight for Wests Tigers was the impressive debut of 19-year-old hooker Jared Haywood (#311), who showed plenty of creativity with the ball and was tireless in defence with 32 tackles.
The Moments
3rd minute: Erin Clark finds James Fisher Harris to open the scoring with a converted try. Warriors 6-0.
12th minute: Bunty Afoa sin-binned for a dangerous tackle.
14th minute: The Warriors score their second through Alofiana Khan Pereira. Warriors 10-0.
17th minute: Ali Leiataua crosses for a try. Warriors 14-0.
21st minute: Jared Haywood (pictured) takes the field for his NRL debut.
27th minute: An Adam Doueihi banana grubber on the last tackle is picked up by Samuela Fainu for the Tigers' first points. Doueihi converts. Warriors 14-6.
50th minute: Khan Pereira goes over for his second. Warriors 20-6.
53rd minute: A mistake by the Tigers sees Wade Egan capitalise. Warriors 26-6.
75th minute: A team play sees Sam Healey score for the Warriors. Warriors 32-6.
What they said
NRL Head Coach Benji Marshall
“The result was definitely disappointing. We went 14-nil down; the sin bin really hurt us. All the boys showed a bit of fight, though, to get back to 14-6.”
“I thought there were some good efforts, but at the same time, we’re at the end of the season, where we probably need to get results, so it makes it more disappointing.”
