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Miserable Warriors humiliated by the Raiders at Mt Smart

August 2, 2019

The Warriors' embarrassing round 20 defeat to the Canberra Raiders, as it happened.

Warriors 12 - 46 Raiders

80 mins - With their season on the line, the Warriors were humiliated. To be frank I think they were shown up for what they are by a Canberra side with ambition to be in the top two. They produced an error-riddled performance and their defence was soft. Where they go from here, who knows, Kearney has always shown a reluctance to wield the axe but surely he has to after a performance like that.

79 mins - Wighton steps through some more soft defence to score one final try as the hooter rings out at Mt Smart. Blair with the missed tackle. Soliola hooks the conversion.

75 mins - Oldfield has knocked on before putting the ball down.

71 mins - CHT is in again! Green took the line before flinging it out to Chanel, who is a very good support player and probably one of three Warriors who can hold their heads up in my opinion. The other two are the centres by the way.

64 mins - Hodgson is celebrating! The hooker has crashed his way through and looks to have got the ball down. It'll be given and is. Croker converts to make it 40, how many more will they get?

58 mins - Lawton has gone off with a shoulder injury as well as a horrible night gets worse for the Warriors.

57 mins - The Raiders have gone in again! This one might be the softest of all. Simonsson was the one who scored he appeared to be tackled at one point but was able to get back up and get over the line. It was generous defence shall we say. Croker misses the conversion.

53 mins - There's a consolation try for the Warriors! It's adecent one too, Ayshford with an amazing pass to put CHT over as he supported back on the inside. CHT converts his own try.

51 mins - The Warriors get a penalty for a strip that wasn't in a one-on-one tackle.

45 mins - Hiku is down after a head clash in a tackle as Curran comes off the bench for his Warriors debut.

43 mins - Hiku shows sublime skill to put Maumalolo away and the winger kicks, then the Warriors give a penalty away.

42 mins - Some steel in the defence as Hiku and Lawton shorten up one of the Raiders.

40 mins - Let's see if the halftime fireworks from Kearney amount to anything...

8:59pm - They say you've only got a few sprays in you as a coach during a season and Stephen Kearney is using one of them up today and rightly so! 

40 mins - That's halftime. You can be as scathing as you want about the Warriors, dishing that up with the season on the line. The Raiders meanwhile, flexed their muscles as genuine premiership contenders.

36 mins - The Raiders score a sensational team try! Tapine finished it off after a brilliant move down the right side through multiple sets of hands. Brilliant! The Warriors on the other hand...Kearney is out of the coach's box.

34 mins - Green comes up with another shocker of a kick and the Raiders sweep down the field where Simonsson scores. Some howls from the crowd for a forward pass. You can't complain about decisions when you dish this kind of performance up though, can you?

32 mins - Bateman has gone down after copping a shot from Burr as he stood in a tackle. Maumalolo wins a penalty after play restarts.

29 mins - Oldfield is in! A great play from Hodgson, who ripped the ball out of Tevaga's grasp in a one-on-one tackle. Down the other end, Oldfield beat Maumalolo to a Sezer kick to score. This could get ugly.

28 mins -  Ayshford does brilliantly, fielding a kick and then managing to get back in the field of play. He gets a penalty as well and is rightly swamped by his teammates.

25 mins - Green with a shocking kick to give away a seven-tackle set. Down the other end Bateman puts in a grubber and then hammers Hiku to win the Raiders a repeat set. He's some player!

23 mins - The Warriors get a reprieve with Hodgson throwing a forward pass out of dummy half. Lawton is waiting to enter the game as well as RTS eats up some metres down the left edge.

19 mins -  Papali goes through some soft defence from Tevaga and Papali'i to score for Canberra. Soft really. Nikorima is coming off too. CHT on.

17 mins - Hodgson pins Nikorima in the in-goal with an excellent kick. In a terrible result for the Warriors, Nikorima looks to again have hurt his ankle. He's still down, CHT is warming up on the sideline. Nikorima has had it strapped up and he's staying out there.

14 mins - Beale with a chance after a nice pass from RTS, the winger is bundled into touch unfortunately.

13 mins - Sezer misses the touchline with a grubber and gives up a seven-tackle set.

10 mins - Soliola has scored a brilliant try! The veteran prop palmed off Nikorima before showing enough speed to get around Roger. What a try showing the speed that saw him start his career in the outside backs. Hodgson the instigator there, unsurprisingly.

8 mins - CNK with a sharp offload, What a player he has blossomed into this year. He features again in that set, this time in support. It's actually the former Warrior's birthday today, he's 24.

7 mins - The Raiders might have scored through Croker! The visitors swung it out to the left and their skipper had enough speed to get over the line. But his knee was in tough. Important tackle from Ayshford. 

5 mins - Johnson with a raking kick out of dummy half. Tevaga is in at hooker and Blair has lost it again. No need to elaborate on that.

3 mins - Croker looks to have dropped it over the line. We're going up to the video ref as a no try, it's close...no try.

1 mins - Wighton rolls it into the in-goal and Canberra get another set.

0 mins - There's a bit of rain around the area too. The Raiders have kicked off...and Blair has made the first error.

7:59pm -  Both teams are now out on the field on a blustery, cold night in Auckland.

Preview: The Warriors put their NRL finals hopes on the line as they host the Raiders at Mt Smart Stadium

Stephen Kearney’s men need to win at least five of their last six games. A task made even more difficult when you consider they have to face the in-form Raiders twice as well as the Roosters, Rabbitohs and Manly, all sides cemented in the top eight.

With Issac Luke suspended, Karl Lawton comes into the starting side at hooker after returning from injury.

Kodi Nikorima also returns from injury to take his spot in the halves, meaning the impressive Chanel Harris-Tavita drops to the bench.

One of the must-watch battles will be between the fullbacks with the apprentice Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad taking on the master and his mentor in Roger Tuivasa-Sheck.

WARRIORS: Roger Tuivasa-Sheck (c), Gerard Beale, Peta Hiku, Blake Ayshford, Ken Maumalo, Kodi Nikorima, Blake Green, Agnatius Paasi, Karl Lawton, Leeson Ah Mau, Adam Blair, Isaiah Papali'i, Jazz Tevaga. Interchange: Lachlan Burr, Josh Curran, Bunty Afoa, Chanel Harris-Tavita.

RAIDERS: Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, Bailey Simonsson, Jarrod Croker (c), Michael Oldfield, Jordan Rapana, Jack Wighton, Aidan Sezer, Josh Papalii, Josh Hodgson (c), Iosia Soliola, John Bateman, Elliott Whitehead, Joseph Tapine. Interchange: Siliva Havili, Emre Guler, Corey Horsburgh, Dunamis Lui.

Referees: Matt Cecchin, Gavin Badger.

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