Warriors claim six-point win over Bulldogs

The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs have suffered a six-point loss to the New Zealand Warriors at ANZ Stadium.

The Bulldogs welcomed Will Hopoate back from an ankle injury, while the Warriors named Paul Turner to make his NRL debut at halfback.

Canterbury led 10-nil after 20 minutes, but the Warriors recovered and walked away with a 20-14 win and their sixth victory of the season.

The home side crossed in the 16th minute after a shift to the left sent winger Nick Meaney down the sideline. He passed back inside to Tim Lafai, who charged towards the try line before delivering a brilliant flick pass back to Meaney to crash over the line for his fifth try of the season. He missed the conversion from the sideline and the Dogs led 4-0.

The Bulldogs added their second try two minutes later when Jeremy Marshall-King split the Warriors defence straight up the middle of the field from dummy half and put Kieran Foran away who scored under the posts. Meaney converted from in front to give the Bulldogs a 10-0 lead after 20 minutes.

The Warriors crossed in the 29th minute after a Kodi Nikorima cross field kick found Jack Murchie who caught the ball scored next to the posts. Nikorima converted to close Canterbury’s lead to four.

No further points were added for the remainder of the half and the Dogs went into the break with a 10-6 lead.

The home side extended their lead after the break when a beautiful pass from Jack Cogger found fullback Hopoate who scored in the south west corner of ANZ Stadium.

The Warriors grabbed back-to-back tries in the 48th minute through Adam Pompey and in the 50th minute, Murchie added a second for the day. Murchie’s try was converted and the visitors led 16-14 with 30 minutes left in the game.

New Zealand added their third try of the half when Nikorima through a short ball to captain Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, who beat the defence to score. The conversion was waved away and the Warriors were out to a 20-14 lead.

A field goal attempt in the 77th minute from Nikorioma was waved away, but they did enough to hold onto their six- point lead and claim their sixth win in 2020.