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Warriors Break Anzac Day Drought With Big Win Over Knights

Scoop

26-04-2025

Sport
Scoop

Warriors Break Anzac Day Drought With Big Win Over Knights

Try doubles to winger Adam Pompey and forward Jackson Ford have carried NZ Warriors to a 26-12 win over Newcastle Knights at Christchurch, securing their first Anzac Day victory since 2014. Celebrating his 50th game for the Auckland club, Ford was initially named to start in the front row, but slipped back to the interchange bench in a late line-up shuffle from coach Andrew Webster. The perceived demotion did not discourage him, as he scored back-to-back tries, after Pompey had the Warriors off to an ideal start. Referee Wyatt Raymond reduced the contest to 12 v 12, with early sin bins for Marata Niukore and Leo Thompson, while both sides also had two tries disallowed. Reaching halftime 16-0 ahead, all three of the Warriors' first-half tries came from kick challenges, with Pompey particularly terrorising opposite James Schiller into errors. Schiller narrowed the margin, when Knights centre Dane Gagai showed his pace and found his winger running support, but hopes of a comeback were short-lived. Warriors halfback Luke Metcalf intercepted a Knights pass near his own goal-line and dashed the length of the field, before he was run down by opposite Fletcher Sharpe, but the Newcastle defence was slow retreating and hooker Wayde Egan darted over to put the game beyond reach. The long run took the sting out of Metcalf, who spend the next 25 minutes cramping up, before eventually leaving the field in the dying moments. He threw a loose pass in the build-up to Pompey's second try and the winger had to backtrack for the ball, before charging through a tired defence to score. "We weren't clinical at all, we didn't play the way we wanted to, but we scrambled really well, hung in the fight and put some points on," said Warriors captain Mitch Barnett. "Just grateful to get the win." The result propels the Warriors into second on the NRL table - for now - with their fifth win of the season, but a fifth consecutive win sess the Knights mired near the foot of the ladder. Team lists Warriors: 1 Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, 2 Taine Tuaupiki, 3 Rocco Berry, 4 Ali Leiataua, 5 Adam Pompey, 6 Chanel Harris- Tavita, 7 Luke Metcalf, 8 Jackson Ford, 9 Wayde Egan, 10 Mitch Barnett (c), 11 Kurt Capewell, 12, Marata Niukore, 13 Erin Clark Interchange: 14 Leka Halasima, 15 Bunty Afoa, 16 Demitric Vaimauga, 17 Jacob Laban Knights: 1 Kalyn Ponga, 2 James Schiller, 3 Dane Gagai, 4 Bradman Best, 5 Greg Marzhew, 6 Fletcher Sharpe, 7 Tyson Gamble, 8 Tyson Frizell, 9 Phoenix Crossland, 10 Leo Thompson, 11 Dylan Lucas, 12, Kai Pearce-Paul, 13 Mat Croker Interchange: 14 Jayden Brailey, 15 Tyrone Thompson, 16 Thomas Cant, 17 Brodie Jones

RNZ News

25-04-2025

Sport
RNZ News

Warriors break Anzac Day drought with big win over Knights

Adam Pompey of the Warriors fends off James Schiller of the Knights to go in foe a try during the NRL Telstra Premiership, Warriors Vs Knights at the Apollo Projects Stadium, Christchurch. Photo: John Davidson/ Photosport The Warriors have headed south to Christchurch as their positive start to 2025 continues, and bagged their fifth win of the season against a struggling Knights side that was already sitting way down in 14th. The Auckland club had not won on this day for more than a decade. Follow all the action with RNZ's live blog: Warriors: 1 Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, 2 Taine Tuaupiki, 3 Rocco Berry, 4 Ali Leiataua, 5 Adam Pompey, 6 Chanel Harris- Tavita, 7 Luke Metcalf, 8 Jackson Ford, 9 Wayde Egan, 10 Mitch Barnett (c), 11 Kurt Capewell, 12, Marata Niukore, 13 Erin Clark Interchange: 14 Leka Halasima, 15 Bunty Afoa, 16 Demitric Vaimauga, 17 Jacob Laban Knights: 1 Kalyn Ponga, 2 James Schiller, 3 Dane Gagai, 4 Bradman Best, 5 Greg Marzhew, 6 Fletcher Sharpe, 7 Tyson Gamble, 8 Tyson Frizell, 9 Phoenix Crossland, 10 Leo Thompson, 11 Dylan Lucas, 12, Kai Pearce-Paul, 13 Mat Croker Interchange: 14 Jayden Brailey, 15 Tyrone Thompson, 16 Thomas Cant, 17 Brodie Jones

Knights' NRL season on tilt after fifth-straight loss

Perth Now

25-04-2025

Sport
Perth Now

Knights' NRL season on tilt after fifth-straight loss

Newcastle's NRL season is threatening to implode as the Warriors consigned the Knights to a five-game losing streak with their 26-12 win in Christchurch. The Knights' attack was once again their biggest issue on Friday night and now averages just 7.2 points across the side's last five outings. Their right edge also struggled to defuse Chanel Harris-Tavita's kicking game close to the line as Newcastle fell to a match-defining 16-0 half-time deficit. Newcastle have not led any game on their longest losing streak for nearly three years and could slip to last on the ladder if they fall to South Sydney at Magic Round next week. The drums will no doubt beat louder for sixth-year coach Adam O'Brien should they drop that must-win game. Adam Pompey gets us started! 😝#NRLWarriorsKnights NRL (@NRL) April 25, 2025 The Knights will take some confidence from recent history; they memorably sat 14th on the ladder after 19 rounds in 2023 before riding a Kalyn Ponga-inspired surge into the top eight. But even superstar fullback Ponga is struggling to spark the 2025 Knights, who never had this long a losing streak two seasons ago. Halves pairing Harris-Tavita and Luke Metcalf were superb for a Warriors side that remains entrenched in the top four through eight rounds with a 5-2 record. The Warriors' first two tries came on the back of Harris-Tavita's kicks inside the red zone, first as Kurt Capewell regathered the ball to find Adam Pompey, then as Ali Leiataua sent an inside pass to Jackson Ford. Metcalf dragged Greg Marzhew's arm into touch as the winger looked certain to score the Knights' first try before grabbing an intercept from opposite man Jack Cogger and sprinting 65 metres ahead of Wayde Egan's second-half try. By contrast, the Knights' halves Cogger and Fletcher Sharpe each sprayed a kick dead on the side's first two advances towards the line. In another wasted chance, James Schiller dropped the ball when he looked certain to score from a Dane Gagai tap-on, the toughest moment on a tough night for the right winger. The Warriors scored minutes after each of Newcastle's two first-half tries scrubbed out by the bunker, with Ford backing up in support to seal his first double. Gagai set Schiller up by burning Leiataua down the right edge 10 minutes after the break. But Metcalf's intercept dampened the Knights' spirits only minutes later and Pompey sealed his own double to confirm the result in the last 10 minutes. Marata Niukore and Leo Thompson could be charged by the match review committee after landing in the sin bin for high shots in the opening five minutes.