The Toyota Forklift Raiders fell to the Warriors 21-20 in a golden point thriller that saw the Raiders score two tries in the final minutes to force the game to extra time.
In what was the Raiders first time playing in New Zealand since 2019, the Green Machine fell painfully close to stealing the win away from home.
An early chance for the Raiders was left begging after a misplaced pass from Jarod Croker on the sideline missed Albert Hopoate on the wing.
The Warriors were the first to strike after a burst from Wayde Egan at dummy half was met with a strong run from Marata Niukore at first receiver to reach out and score their first points of the night.
As the Warriors were coming out of their own end, an unforced error from Niukore just shy of the 40-metre line gifted Hudson Young with an intercept picking up the ball with no one in sight as he approached the line.
A successful conversion from Jarrod Croker tied the scores up at 6-6.
With both teams struggling to gain momentum, a ruck infringement penalty from the Raiders handed the opportunity to the Warriors to take a penalty conversion and lead 8-6.
A knock-on from the Raiders defending their line gave the Warriors a chance to score however a dropped ball from Luke Metcalf handed Matt Timoko with the possession breaking tackles to gain forty metres on the fly.
Some neat footwork from Tom Starling broke the Warriors defensive line only to be matched by fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad.
Fogarty took advantage of the occupied fullback, putting a kick over the top of the defence only for Dallin Watene-Zelezniak to swat away the pall from Sebastian Kris’ arms with the try line begging.
As the first half came to a close, a cutout ball to Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad handed him a run at the line to take the score to 14-6 at half time.
As the game resumed for the second half, both teams tussled for field possession before Young coughed up the ball giving the Warriors an attacking set.
A right-side play found Watene-Zelezniak as he scored a try in the corner to extend their lead to 18-6.
Set restarts made the Raiders lives difficult as the Warriors continued to put pressure on the Green Machine’s try line.
An attempted short drop out from the Raiders fell short of the 10-metre line, gifting the Warriors a penalty kick to lead 20-6.
Despite the 14-point deficit, the Raiders didn’t lose hope through countless sets on the Warriors try line.
A kick from Fogarty was met with winger Jordan Rapana who outjumped Marcelo Montoya to take the scores to 20-10.
Some late desperation from Rapana and Whitehead to combine and take the game to just a six-point margin with 50 seconds left.
With just over 20 seconds remaining in the game, the Raiders pulled out something special spreading the ball to Hopoate who found Wighton back on the inside to tie the game up at 20 points a-piece.
A kick to win the game for the Raiders fell wide from Croker as the game headed to golden point.
An error from Fogarty enabled the Warriors a seven-tackle set, with Nicoll-Klokstad having caught the ball in the in goal area.
The Warriors went on to kick a field goal thanks to Johnson to win the game 21-20.
