A first half domination and a spirited Warriors outfit were too much for the Raiders NYC team, as they were thumped 54-0 by New Zealand at Eden park today.
The news was even worse for the Raiders, with halfback Andrew Heffernan taken from the field early in the second half with injury. He’ll be assessed this week.
A relentless Junior Warrior outfit put the game out of reach of the Raiders by halftime, as they scored six tries before the break to lead 32-0 at halftime.
Both teams looked to use their size down the middle of the field early and it took the Warriors nine minutes to score first, when Michael Ki scored for a 4-0 lead.
They scored again in the 13th minute when James Bell crossed the line, with the conversion by Mafoa’aetea Hingano extending the lead to 10-0.
Up until that point the Raiders had some attacking opportunities, but it was all one way traffic soon after, with New Zealand scoring on the 23rd, 30th, 33rd and 37th minutes to take a 32-0 lead into the halftime break.
The Raiders would have wanted to come out and rectify the situation in the second half and get themselves back into the match, but the Warriors continued their onslaught, with try’s to John Wesley Tauti and Adam Tuimavave-Gerrard extending their lead to 44-0 after 44 minutes.
The Raiders lost Andrew Heffernan to injury soon after when he was assisted from the field and were then denied their first try when Jared McIlwrick was deemed to have obstructed a Warriors defender as Scott Doyle was running the ball at their line.
Both teams made errors over the next passage of play with neither team dominating possession in the middle part of the half, until the Warriors scored their ninth try through Jordan Baldwinson. When Hingano converted it was 50-0.
Paul Ulberg scored for the Warriors with ten minutes remaining and the score remained 54-0 with a comfortable win to the Warriors.
