Raiders star's crybaby taunt amid ‘grub' antics in win over Warriors

News.com.au

25-05-2025

New Zealand Warriors fans were left cursing Joseph Tapine for his antics in Canberra's fiery 16-10 win in Auckland on Sunday.
In a clash between two top four teams, there was no shortage of disciplinary errors with referee Adam Gee giving out three sin bins in the game — to Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad of the Warriors and to Canberra's Corey Horsburgh and Tom Starling.
FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every game of every round in the 2025 NRL Telstra Premiership, LIVE with no ad-breaks during play. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited-time offer.
A try to Jamal Fogarty in the 62nd minute broke the deadlock and the Raiders survived the dying stages with 12 players to hold on for the win, which broke the Warriors' five-game winning streak and moved Canberra into second on the NRL ladder.
Gee had his work cut out as both teams looked to delay the play the ball with plenty of ruck infringements, and Tapine was lucky not to be sin binned in the first half.
The Raiders captain gave away a penalty for an illegal crusher tackle on and got a talking to from the referee, but was allowed to stay on the field.
Hearing the boos of Warriors fans, Tapine mocked them by giving a crybaby gesture to the crowd, which you can watch in the video above.
Late in the game, he assisted a teammate in a tackle and his shoulder made contact with Leka Halasima of the Warriors.
Tapine is set to be come under scrutiny from the Match Review Committee and NRL fans couldn't believe he wasn't sin binned during the game.
Jamie Wall wrote on X: 'Joseph Tapine putting in one of the all time heel gold performances tonight.'
One fan said: 'Why is Tapine playing like this, why is he a grub all of a sudden lmao.'
Tapine and hooker Starling face nervous waits after being placed on report.
For Tapine, two incidents will come under scrutiny after earning the ire of referee Adam Gee for a crusher tackle on Marata Niukore early on and a shoulder charge on Roger Tuivasa-Sheck in the final five minutes.
Tom Starling made matters worse for the Raiders with the game on the line, after he was sin-binned for a high-flying charge at the head of a kicking Chanel Harris-Tavita.
Raiders young gun Savelio Tamale could also be seen screaming expletives at the Warriors faithful as the fulltime siren sounded.
Despite all this, as well as a first half riddled with ill-discipline, the Raiders did enough to hang on against a desperate Warriors in a frantic final two minutes.
The game looked lost to the Raiders early with the Warriors hellbent on joining the Bulldogs atop the NRL ladder, but the green machine would do enough to wrestle back the advantage. Jamal Fogarty's runaway try in the 64th minute coincided with a Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad sin-bin and proved the difference by game's end.
Ricky Stuart leapt to the defence of his 'aggressive' Raiders team despite two late brain snaps almost costing them a vital win over the Warriors.
Stuart warned the game would be treading a fine line if they were to hand out suspensions in the aftermath of a brutal contest that was impacted by torrential conditions.
'We can't discipline aggression. Our game and our broadcasters promote aggression. We must be real careful that we don't scrutinise aggressive actions in a game that is moulded on pure aggression and passion,' Stuart said.
'I'm not promoting foul play, I'm dead against it. But there were a lot of accidental high shots and that's all part of it, they're penalties, but the match review committee can't go out there and bash players for aggression because we need it in our game to maintain the entertainment.'