5 Apr 2010

Warriors slip up at home against Manly

11:53 am on 5 April 2010

The Warriors are rueing a close video referee decision as visitors Manly beat the home side 14-6 in their National Rugby League game in Auckland.

The matchwinning try came from Kiwis centre Steve Matai, who got the benefit of the doubt on the grounding.

The Sea Eagles were never behind in the match, leading 6-0 at half-time, and they outscored the home side by two tries to one, with Jamie Lyon adding two penalties and a conversion.

Senior Warriors back Brent Tate thought the fireworks in last week's win over the Broncos in the early afternoon heat of Brisbane may have contributed to the limp loss.

Coach Ivan Cleary wasn't blaming the video ref, though he joked after the game that perhaps he should have taken a leaf out of Manly coach Des Hasler's book and destroyed a door in the dressing room afterwards

But Cleary's pleased enough this early in the season with their form, a two from two record so far in 2010.

He says there were a lot of negatives written about the Warriors before a ball was kicked, it's going to be a long tough season but they're pretty happy with where they sit.

In Sunday's other game, Kiwis captain Benji Marshall scored 16 points as his Wests Tigers came from behind with four unanswered second-half tries to beat the Raiders 35-22 in Canberra.