'Look themselves in the mirror': Warriors' captain's message after giving up 14-0 lead in latest loss
A composed second-half rally has saved Canberra’s NRL season as the Raiders rattled off four unanswered tries to beat the Warriors 26-14 at GIO Stadium.
Canberra trailed 12-0 before they’d even touched the ball and looked a shell of the team that rolled Melbourne last round.
But they snapped out of their slumber and avoided a hammer-blow in the race for finals.
They’re now level on wins with eight-ranked Sydney Roosters, only sitting outside the finals positions via a points differential with six games left in the home-and-way season.
Defying a dubious record of having won only two of their past 10 games when coming off a win, Canberra coach Ricky Stuart said composure and a lack of complacency had allowed them to flip the script.
“They were a good footy team there for 40 minutes and then we had to handle a lot of pressure,” Stuart said.
“At halftime we’d been challenged … I said we just turn this into a long game and if you’re patient and you don’t get frustrated and we can still win this game.”
A double for bench forward Corey Harawira-Naera sealed Canberra the points after early second-half tries for Albert Hopoate and Seb Kris.
But Stuart pointed out his side scored off the back of two 40-20 kicks from half Jack Wighton.
“They’re game-changers and that’s what you want your big players doing,” he said.
“Just what it does to the whole team, you’ve only got to talk to the people in the crowd about what it does for them.
“It just turns momentum and that’s what you want your big players to do.”
It was just the third occasion this season they’ve won consecutive games and it couldn’t have come at a better time as they try to break into the top-eight with a favourable draw to close the regular season.
Five of their remaining six games are against bottom-eight teams and they are likely to start favourites in all outings except for a round 21 clash with Penrith.
Remarkably, the Raiders completed all 22 of their second-half sets after going at 63 per cent in the first stanza.
The Raiders can once again thank star prop Joe Tapine for taking control in the middle after he crunched out 191m, 80m post-contact, five tackle busts and three offloads.
The Warriors looked sharp early but were smashed in the second half with a mere 25 per cent of territory.
Winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak did what he could with a big 159m while captain Tohu Harris punched out 120m and made 42 tackles.
Sitting at 5-13 and staring down the barrel of their season completely sliding away, Harris called on his teammates to lift in the six remaining weeks.
“We’ve just got to keep our standards high and not accept defeat,” he told reporters.
‘We can’t just be a team that will turn up and just roll over for other teams.
“Everyone’s just got to look themselves in the mirror and ask if this is what they really want … and what they want to do for this club.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to comments