2008 Trial vs Warriors:
Newcastle 22 defeated Warriors 14.
Newcastle came back from a 14-0 halftime deficit to record a first up victory for 2008, in their trial against the Warriors in Auckland's North Harbour. The Warriors started strongly, but the young Knights outfit took their chance to make a comeback in the second half.
Patrick Ah Van scored in the second minute thanks to a Wade McKinnon grubber, and Manu Vatuvei barged his way over the line in the 13th to create an 8-0 lead. Last year's most accurate goalkicker Michael Witt didn't have his kicking boots on until the 24th minute, when he converted a Wairangi Koopu try. Koopu received the final pass from a rampaging Manu Vatuvei who had made an impressive break down the centre of the field.
Newcastle's best attacking play of the first half came when Jarrod Mullen was pulled down just short in the 32nd minute, and Mark Taufua was held up from the next play.
The Warriors could almost have sealed a win in the 51st minute when Nathan Fien nearly scored, but was pulled back for a knock-on. From then on the Knights lifted their intensity impressively to come back into the match. Cooper Vuna opened the visitors scoring in the 57th minute when he regathered a loose ball and raced 70 metres to notch up a try.
With 12 minutes remaining the Knights still trailed 14-4, but three late tries put them in the lead. First Chris Bailey forced his way through some soft defence close to the Warriors line in the 68th minute. Shortly afterwards Aquila Uate nearly opened his try-scoring accounts for the first grade side, but having taken a cross-field kick he was unable to force the ball before going dead.
Jared Edwards scored off a Jarrod Mullen grubber for Newcastle to assume the lead with seven minutes remaining, then with two to go Scott Dureau gave an inside pass for Richard Fa'aoso to cross under the posts untouched.
Both sides were happy with the outing, the Warriors only concern were injuries to Wade McKinnon and Aidan Kirk. The onset of bad weather in the second half, along with the introduction of several youngsters gave the Warriors reason to not be overly concerned by the loss. Newcastle were exceptionally happy with the result given their side lacked experience from the outset.
What they said:
Brian Smith:
"Most important I think for us was how we handled ourselves physically."
"Early on and probably throughout the night the Warriors had the better of us in contact but the longer the game went on the better we got."
"We had half a dozen boys there tonight that are under 20 years of age and they probably showed more confidence than they deserve to, but no one told them that they weren't up to it, and it was very nice to see."
"One of the most pleasing aspects was that we were 14-0 down and launched a comeback with three of our young kids - Jared Edwards, Byron Fruean and Marty Paulsen - all on the field."
"During the pre-season you look forward to things to be exposed so you can work on them, and we found plenty tonight."
"But for a team that's trying to rebuild itself, it's great to get a win."