Rugby League Coaching Manuals

By James Hooper - It was billed as the Polynesian party, where anyone with an Islander passport was invited to watch Sonny Bill Williams tackle the New Zealand Warriors free of charge. The only problem was that Williams pulled out with a back injury and the Warriors gate-crashed the night in front of the largely-Kiwi crowd of 12,973.

It was a different Sonny who opened the scoring, with Warriors centre Sonny Fai crossing to send the visitors to a 4-0 lead.

The Warriors then broke into Harlem Globetrotters mode, showing shades of their football from 2002, as they raced to a 20-0 lead. By halftime, the visitors had raced in six tries to one in a 30-6 landslide.
 
The Dogs staged a gallant fightback in the second half, reducing the scoreline to 30-22, with tries to Heka Nanai, Hazem El Masri, who also scored in the first half, and Reni Maitua with eight minutes remaining.

But coach Steve Folkes wasn't exactly bouncing around the dressing room. He believes the Bulldogs need to overcome the perception they are only a danger with Williams in the pack.

"In the first half the writing was on the wall. After 20 minutes, I think we'd only had the ball twice so we just ran out of puff,'' Folkes said.

"A bit much is made of all of that (the Bulldogs missing Williams). If you get told enough times you're a one-man team, you start to believe it. And that's certainly not the case. The psychology of all that, we need to get over that, because that's not the case.''

A melee threatened to break out in the second half after Lance Hohaia took objection to a Lee Te Maari shoulder when the Warriors fullback defused a bomb. The Bulldogs were awarded a penalty for Micheal Luck taking out a Bulldogs chaser and they quickly made the Warriors pay, Corey Hughes working a short side to send El Masri over for his second try.

But the Warriors then snuffed out any hope of an upset, with winger Malo Solomona completing his hat-trick. The victory means New Zealand have now won three games in a row and are still a chance of making the eight.

"It was a good promotion. I just think the club's put themselves in a position now where they're going to have to continue to do that sort of thing because obviously the loyal supporters felt a little bit left out,'' Warriors skipper Steve Price said.

"So it's going to be interesting to see what they do going forward to make sure their loyal supporters feel like they're being looked after as well.''

Fulltime
NZ Warriors 40 (M Solomona 3 S Fai A Kirk L Hohaia S Rapira S Price tries L Hohaia 4 goals) bt Bulldogs 22 (H El Masri 2 H Nanai R Maitua tries H El Masri 3 goals) at ANZ Stadium. Ref: T De Las Heraf. Crowd: 12,973. Daily Telegraph