Warriors hold out Dragons in Auckland

With replacements running thin, Blake Lawrie played the opening 40 unchanged in a mammoth 27-tackle, 98-metre effort over 40 minutes while Jacob Liddle was forced to spend time on the wing. Lawrie eventually notched a huge 44 tackles and 205 metres across 70 minutes on-field. 

An unconventional Dragons kick-off saw Lomax denied a try less than 10 seconds in after the returning centre stormed through to reel in a ball that the hosts allowed to bounce only for video officials to observe a knock-on in the contest.

Lomax found himself in the action again soon after, skying to gather a Junior Amone kick on the try-line only for his aerial, over-the-head unload to miss Finau on his outside.

The opening points instead came through Pompey who poured through a hole off a fifth-tackle Luke Metcalf face ball to step his way over the line.

Pompey converted his own try to give the hosts a six-point advantage 15 minutes in.

Nicoll-Klokstad snagged the Warriors’ second try moments later sweeping around off Shaun Johnson on a right-edge shift and bumping away from defenders to dive over and make it a double-digit lead.

Wayde Egan went close to notching their third on the other side of the first quarter mark but fell short out of dummy-half thanks to some desperate Dragons cover.

Finau and Lomax were both taken from the field moments later after an aerial collision with Dallin Watene-Zelezniak.

Finau suffered an ankle sprain whilst Lomax was taken for a head injury assessment which he was able to pass.

Jacob Liddle was thrusted into an unfamiliar role on the left flank and passed his opening task with flying colours snaring a Johnson bomb and earning the side a penalty as a result of a mid-air tackle.

The Warriors won a captain’s challenge for what was initially ruled a strip seven minutes prior to the break with Russell also taken for a head injury assessment a handful of plays later which he was able to pass.

Fonua-Blake looked to have crashed his way through a hole off a Dylan Walker short ball under the sticks to claim another for the hosts only for a desperate Amone to dislodge the ball deep in the in-goal.

The Dragons entered the second half trailing by just 10 after a challenging opening 40 in which they had been reduced to a one-man bench at one stage.

Metcalf left the field early in the second half with an apparent hamstring issue forcing the hosts into a reshuffle.

Back-to-back penalties boosted the Dragons onto the attack with Liddle, back in his preferred hooking role, splitting the markers and darting his way to the try-line only for video officials to pick up a knock-on in the grounding.

The Dragons’ first points of the contest came on the other side of the hour-mark with a spilt cross-field kick ending up in the lap of Billy Burns whose offload found Lomax for the four-pointer with the centre converting his own try to cut the deficit to four.

The visitors made a successful captain’s challenge of their own with 15 minutes remaining to overturn an on-field strip call but hopes of a Dragons comeback were dashed with less than five minutes remaining via Fonua-Blake who got on the board courtesy of a Johnson grubber.

Pompey piloted through a late penalty goal to seal an 18-6 win for the hosts and secure their spot in the top four for the first time since 2007.