Lower grades: Flegg boys on fire, Knights too good in NSW Cup
The Warriors' under-21s are emerging as a title threat, while their under-strength NSW Cup side showed some good signs in a loss in Newcastle.
The Warriors went down 32-22 to Newcastle Knights in an entertaining NSW Cup encounter on the road on Saturday afternoon.
The Knights trailed 6-0, 10-4 and 22-20 but scored the last two tries of the match in the final 15 minutes to take the points over a Warriors team missing Luke Hanson, Marata Niukore, Morgan Gannon and Alofiana Khan-Pereira from its Round 2 line-up.
Canterbury-bred hooker Makaia Tafua scored the opening try for the Warriors, while burgeoning halfback Jett Cleary floated beautiful rainbow passes out for winger Haizyn Mellars to score tries either side of halftime.
Another Canterbury product, 17-year-old second-rower Bishop Neal, capped an eye-catching debut to climbing to catch a Jack Thompson kick and score in the 56th minute. The Warriors’ 2025 Harold Matthews Cup grand final player of the match, Neal only made his SG Ball and Jersey Flegg debuts earlier this year — picking up a pile of tries along the way.
The Warriors’ Jersey Flegg side made it three-from-three — and a trio of outings scoring 44-plus points — courtesy of a 46-6 drubbing of the Knights to get things underway at McDonald Jones Stadium.
The nine-try rout began with Sio Kali, Brandon Norris and Harry Tauafiafi-Iutoi running in unconverted tries inside 16 minutes, before Harry Inch’s 40-metre runaway from a Knights error a few minutes before the break.
Second-rower Kahu Capper scored the first two tries of the second half, while Nganatatufu Vake, hooker Braelan Marsh and promoted fullback Joseph Ratcliffe added four-pointers in the last 10 minutes.
Rugby union convert Inch kicked five goals and had a hand in several tries for the table-topping Warriors.
It was a torrid Saturday for the Warriors’ two youngest teams in Kellyville, however, with their SG Ball and Harold Matthews Cup outfits going down convincingly to their Parramatta Eels counterparts.
The two-time defending under-17s champs went down 26-10 to the Eels. Centre Hoani-Manuera Kahukiwa scored the Warriors’ only try of the first half, while winger Lennox-Rua Limu Franklin crossed after the break to give the visitors a brief sniff at 18-10.
The SG Ball encounter finished 44-4 in Parramatta’s favour. The only respite for the Warriors came late in the contest as centre Soane Ma’asi posted the last try of the match.