Warriors hit back in style as Martin stands tall
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The Warriors have put their horror loss to the Titans behind them with Te Maire Martin leading them to a 32-16 victory over Brisbane on Saturday in Auckland.
Taking over the No.7 jumper in Shaun Johnson's absence, Martin laid on three tries and scored one of his own as the Warriors came up with their seventh win of the season.
An early blow for the Broncos with back-rower Jack Gosiewski leaving the field with an arm injury in just the fifth minute and the Warriors had the lead soon after when Maire Martin put Chanel Harris-Tavita into a hole with a well-timed pass. The conversion from Adam Pompey made it 6-0 to the locals.
The Warriors continued to mount pressure and Martin had a try of his own when he scooted over from dummy half in the 15th minute after a quick play the ball from Adam Pompey.
Chanel Harris-Tavita 1st Try
With the weight of possession in their favour the Warriors collected their third try in the 28th minute when a Martin grubber came off Broncos prop Martin Taupau and rolled into the in goal and Harris-Tavita slid in to complete his double.
An error by Dylan Walker in the 30th minute presented the Broncos with an opportunity and Deine Mariner came up with his 13th try of the season after a scramble for a loose ball from a Jock Madden kick.
With three minutes remaining in the half Harris-Tavita was over the stripe for a third time but the try was called back for obstruction in the lead-up.
Te Maire Martin Try
Given that the Broncos had just 38 per cent of the ball and half as many running metres in the first half they had done well to stay within 10 points and they threatened early in the second when Selwyn Cobbo exploded into space but his attempted offload went forward.
A 40-20 by Ezra Man in the 48th minute put Brisbane on the attack and Cobbo looked to have come up with a miraculous put down in the corner but the bunker ruled he had lost control.
Just two minutes later the Broncos did crack the Warriors when Mariner crossed for his second try to join Titans winger Alofiana Khan-Pereira at the top of the tryscoring charts with 14.
On the hour mark the home side went ahead by 12 points when Martin put in a pinpoint grubber kick for Roger Tuivasa-Sheck to score and the Warriors had some breathing space.
If Warriors coach Andrew Webster had dared to feel comfortable it was short lived as Xavier Willison powered through four defenders to post Brisbane's third try in the 65th minute to make it 22-16.
Chanel Harris-Tavita 2nd Try
Just four minutes later Martin went to the air and found a flying Dallin Watene-Zelezniak for his eighth try of the season and the margin was back to 10 with 10 minutes to play.
A crafty runaround play between Mitch Barnett and Freddy Lussick created another four-pointer in the 73rd minute and from there the Warriors were able to close the game out and consign last year's grand finalists to a fourth consecutive defeat.
Match: Warriors v Broncos
Round 17 -
home Team
Warriors
13th Position
away Team
Broncos
10th Position
Venue: Go Media Stadium, Auckland
Match Snapshot
- The Warriors had 62 per cent of possession in the opening half to the Broncos' 38 per cent.
- Warriors props Addin Fonua-Blake and Mitch Barnett combined for 23 runs and 248 metres in the first half alone before finishing the day with 337 metres between them.
- In the absence of Origin reps Payne Haas and Pat Carrigan it was Corey Jensen leading the way up front with 160 run metres from 17 runs for Brisbane.
- Warriors forward Marata Niukore left the field for a HIA in the 46th minute.
- Broncos five-eighth Ezra Mam produced the first 40-20 of his career in the 48th minute.
Deine Mariner 1st Try
- Broncos winger Selwyn Cobbo proved a handful all game and finished with nine tackle breaks and 139 run metres.
- Broncos centre Kotoni Staggs was placed on report for a trip in the 58th minute.
- Warriors winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak has scored six tries in his past four games against the Broncos.
- Warriors fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad ran for 171 metres.
- The Warriors produced a 76-point turnaround from last week's loss to the Titans.
Xavier Willison Try
Play of the Game
With the Broncos coming at them hard midway through the second half the Warriors came up with a crucial try through favourite son Roger Tuivasa-Sheck courtesy of a Te Maire Martin kick. The halfback would come up with three try assists on the day in an impressive display, laying on tries for RTS in the 59th minute and Dallin Watene-Zelezniak in the 69th minute.
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck Try
What they Said
"I think the boys were very good all week, I thought they set it up for themselves the way they still had that feeling of that embarrassment from last week and wanted to make that right but not letting that define them all week. It was really important that we put it behind us without walking past it and they set the week up unbelievably the way we trained. The way we trained it was pretty obvious we weren't going to turn up and dish up what we did last week. You could tell the boys were on, we just have to add a little bit of detail to our muscle, because we didn't get that right." - Warriors coach Andrew Webster
Warriors: Round 17
"To go in 16-6 down at half-time I thought that was a huge effort from our guys given the amount of possession the Warriors had. That was a credit to our guys. The possession evened up at stages in the second half and we got ourselves back in the game but maybe all that defensive work in the first half took its toll late in the game. Pretty hostile environment for a lot of these guys who haven't played here, we have a huge injury crisis at the club and lost two more tonight but I don't like making too many excuses. We have to find our own way through this and we will." - Broncos coach Kevin Walters
Broncos: Round 17
What's Next
The Warriors travel to Sydney in Round 18 to face the Bulldogs at Accor Stadium while the Broncos are at home at Suncorp Stadium on Friday for a blockbuster showdown with the Panthers.
