2007 Round 20 vs Warriors:
Warriors 52 defeated Newcastle 10.
With the finals on the line, a tired, injured and sick Knights outfit was battered 52-10 by the Warriors. The New Zealander’s seem to have hit form at the right time of the year, whilst circumstances have finally caught up with Newcastle. It was a weary performance by the away side, and many of the Warriors tries came exceptionally easily.
The landslide began with a double to Wade McKinnon in super-fast time, first forcing a grubber under the posts in the 3rd minute, then running off a Grant Rovelli pass into an enormous gap in the Newcastle defence.
Rovelli grabbed a try himself in the 17th minute when he dummied to break the line, ran past Kurt Gidley and dotted down besides the posts. Newcastle showed some resolve to fight back with a try to James McManus in the 22nd minute, but it was pretty much their final shot as the Warriors scored twice more to end the half. Firstly a break from inside their own half lead to a long run to the tryline for Grant Rovelli’s second, and then the ultimate embarrassment as Steve Price regathered a Kirk Reynoldson dropped ball and ran over 60 metres to score.
The Warriors added four further tries in the second half, to Wairangi Koopu, two to Jerome Ropati, and a long range effort by Manu Vatuvei - in which he was virtually unopposed returning a kick. Newcastle scored through Kirk Reynoldson.
There wasn’t a good player for Newcastle, and given the season was on the line, several players needed to take a long look at themselves.
What they said:
Kurt Gidley:
"I guess we have to wait until the weekend is over and have a look at the table but it is going to be very hard from here. We needed to win our last two games and we haven't. Our for and against is pretty disgraceful so it is going to be a tough ask to make the eight."
"We have to keep on playing to win. I will be doing it and I hope the other guys do too. Our defence was very disappointing. We spoke about it last week and worked on it. To go out and let so many points in was disappointing but the Warriors were really on song. They played well and they are a very hard team to stop when they get a roll on."
[On coach Brian Smith] "Smithy was pretty crook the whole time we were over there (Auckland), but there are no dramas. Everyone supports him. It has been a tough year with injuries and it would have been a tough year for him under the circumstances he took over under. The club is moving in a good direction and I'm happy to be involved with it."
Cory Paterson:
"We have to take a bit out of it and really aim up over the final six weeks. The Warriors played some great football. They have a big, strong and mobile pack of forwards that are hard to stop."
"We just have to knuckle down and save the rest of what has been a mixed season for us."