NYC premiership race goes down to wire
The Vodafone Junior Warriors will be relying on the Sydney Roosters to keep them in the hunt for a second successive NYC minor premiership title in this weekend’s final round of regular season matches.
The round started with Canterbury-Bankstown and the Vodafone Junior Warriors both locked on 37 points at the top of the table but with the Bulldogs first courtesy of a markedly superior runs for and against differential.
Sitting one point behind them is Canberra with the scene set for one of these three teams to win the minor premiership, a title the Vodafone Junior Warriors snared for the first time last year en route to their second successive grand final triumph.
The Bulldogs can put an end to all debate by beating the sixth-placed Roosters at ANZ Stadium tomorrow night (Saturday). Form favours them; they’ve won their last four games while the Roosters have won two and lost two of their last four outings, although they were impressive in thumping fifth-placed Wests Tigers 40-16 last weekend.
If the Bulldogs lose then the Vodafone Junior Warriors can take the crown with a draw or a win against the Raiders at Mount Smart Stadium on Sunday; conversely the Raiders would take out the title if they beat the home side. If the Bulldogs draw with the Roosters, the Vodafone Junior Warriors would need to beat Canberra to finish top.
Regardless of whether they’re playing for more glory on Sunday, the match will be a landmark occasion for fullback Omar Slaimankhel, who’ll become the seventh player to appear in 50 NYC matches for the Vodafone Junior Warriors; and he’ll be followed next week by hooker Siliva Havili.
Slaimankhel’s strike rate has slowed somewhat during his injury-disrupted third campaign. His try in last week’s tight win against St George Illawarra was his seventh in 12 matches this year taking him to 46 in 49 games but he’s still a chance to reach the 50-try milestone before the season is out.
Returning on Sunday after being rested against the Dragons is centre Ngataua Hukatai. He’s the only change to the starting line-up while a six-man bench also features the four big forwards who made ample impact last week – hooker Trent Bishop and front rowers Albert Vete, Atu Tupou and Toka Likiliki. Bishop made 66 metres from six runs, Vete 106 from 13, Tupou 78 from 12 and Likiliki 152 from 14. Between them they made 25 tackle breaks, players’ player of the day Vete making 12 himself and also scoring two of his side’s five tries.
In Canberra, the Vodafone Junior Warriors face an opponent which moved to the top of the table just a couple of weeks ago but slumped to a 12-46 home defeat by the Bulldogs last weekend to fall back to third.
VODAFONE JUNIOR WARRIORS v CANBERRA RAIDERSMount Smart Stadium, Auckland
1.45pm, Sunday, September 02
Referee: Shane Rehm
VODAFONE JUNIOR WARRIORS1 OMAR SLAIMANKHEL
2 VILIAMI LOLOHEA
3 NGANI LAUMAPE
4 NGATAUA HUKATAI
5 DAVID FUSITUA
6 PETA HIKU
7 MASON LINO
8 LIGI SAO
9 SILIVA HAVILI
10 SIULONGOUA FOTOFILI
11 JOHN PALAVI (c)
12 SIO SIUA TAUKEIAHO
13 DAVID BHANA
Interchange:14 TRENT BISHOP
15 ALBERT VETE
16 ATU TUPOU
20 TOKA LIKILIKI
21 BRAXTON STANLEY
22 EKO MALU
COACH: JOHN ACKLAND
Source: http://www.thewarriors.com.au/news-display/NYC-premiership-race-goes-down-to-wire/63040
Topic: #Warriors and Raiders Rely on #Roosters to Keep Them in Minor Premiership Hunt
