At Sky Stadium, Wellington: Warriors 20 (Ed Kosi 25 min, Bunty Afoa 29 min, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad 51 min, Wayde Egan 71 min tries; Shaun Johnson 2 goals) Knights 12 (Lachlan Fitzgibbon 1 min, Hymel Hunt 45 min tries; Jackson Hastings 2 goals). HT: 10-6
Andrew Webster has hailed the Warriors’ “resilience” after they overcame a sticky start to beat the Knights 20-10 in their season opener in Wellington on Friday night.
Taking charge of his first NRL game since being named as head coach last July, the former Panthers assistant watched his new side fall behind to a try in the opening two minutes when fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad spilled a high ball, allowing Newcastle second-rower Lachlan Fitzgibbon to cross and briefly silence the 16,676-strong crowd at Sky Stadium.
Warriors teams of the recent past might have let their heads drop, but rookie coach Webster has promised a change in mentality this season, urging his players to grind out results and refuse to throw in the towel when the going gets tough.
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There were signs of that attitude shift on display in the capital as the Warriors recovered from that early setback to clinch a richly deserved 20-12 victory in a game that resembled an arm wrestle at times.
And no-one epitomised the “resilience” which Webster spoke of more than Nicoll-Klokstad, who atoned for his early error with an outstanding performance featuring a try and a try-saving tackle on Kalyn Ponga that arguably turned the match.
“Charnze is just a competitor, for 80 minutes. If you look at his game, it was outstanding,” Webster said when asked about the Kiwis international’s showing on his return to the club after four years with the Raiders.
“Talk about resilience, he drops a ball in the first set and then bounces back to be one of the best players on the field.
“That’s when you know you’ve got a guy who can get rid of that emotion and just compete on every play for the rest of the 80 minutes. That’s pretty cool.”
Nicoll-Klokstad wasn’t the only off-season signing to impress for the Warriors, with second rower Jackson Ford outstanding and Te Maire Martin also enjoying a fine debut alongside Shaun Johnson in the halves.
Overall, Webster was delighted with the resolve and application shown by his players as they responded to falling behind twice to outscore the Knights by four tries to two.
But he was under no illusions over how much they would need to improve in order to challenge for the top eight and beyond this season.
Elias Rodriguez/Photosport
Warriors coach Andrew Webster was delighted with the “resilience” his team showed in their opener.
“I’m proud of the boys. To get round one done and win, I thought it was excellent. I was super excited for the fans of Wellington and all of New Zealand,” Webster said.
“We weren’t smart at times, I think we all know that, and made it hard for ourselves. But there were three big chunks of resilience that we had to have tonight and I’m really proud of that and I was proud of how we dug in and defended our line.”
It’s no surprise that improving the Warriors defence has been one of Webster’s main priorities since his return to the club where he served as an assistant to Andrew McFadden from 2015 to 2017.
The Kiwi outfit conceded a whopping 700 points last season on their way to a 15th place finish, more than any other team in the competition.
So they can be satisfied with a defensive effort that restricted Newcastle to only two tries and 12 points.
Captain and lock Tohu Harris certainly felt the players had put their bodies on the line, believing that the determination shown by the likes of Nicoll-Klokstad and winger Edward Kosi to deny the visitors’ certain tries was “infectious”.
“It’s not going to be perfect all the time, but if we have players like Charnze who turn up in that one moment … that’s a key moment of the game that could have flipped the other way,” Harris said of his crucial intervention on Ponga.
“It’s great for the confidence, but we know we need to continue to work hard to defend like that in the cage. We have to continuously work at it at training, but the harder we work at it throughout the week, we can stay calm in those moments like we did tonight.
“I thought that was a huge difference to us in the past. We weren’t frantic, everyone was talking calmly, giving clear instructions and knew their job. And that’s huge when your defending your line.”
Ponga was later taken off the field in controversial circumstances when an independent doctor ruled he had suffered a Category Two concussion.
The Knights playmaker had been a thorn in the Warriors’ side all night and removing him from the heat of the battle with 11 minutes left to play and only two points between the two sides felt like a pivotal moment.
Elias Rodriguez/Photosport
A crowd of 16,676 turned out at Sky Stadium to roar the Warriors to a thrilling victory over the Knights.
Webster didn’t disagree with that assessment.
“I wasn’t disappointed to see Ponga go off, but I don’t know if it’s the right or bad call but I’ll stay out of that one,” he said.
“He’s obviously a great player.”
After opening their campaign with a morale-boosting victory on home soil, the Warriors now cross the ditch for two tricky-looking away fixtures against the Roosters and the Cowboys.
Hearing his players discuss how they can improve their game minutes after the final whistle was music to Webster’s ears as he looks to build a team capable of challenging at the pointy end of the competition.
“The boys are already talking about in there [the dressing room] that there’s obviously a hell of a lot of growth in what we want to do,” he said.
“It’s not a fluke, it’s not something we are just bringing out for round one. It looks like it’s going to be our DNA.”
