By James Bennett
Hello and welcome to Mt Smart Stadium where we have the Warriors hosting the Storm in NRL rugby league action.
Join us just before 4pm for the match.
The Warriors are coming off a bye and will still have a bitter taste in the mouths after their loss to the Tigers. Meanwhile the Storm are six points clear at the top of the table, playing a great brand of league and running high on confidence. Can the Warriors pull off an upset? Stay tuned to find out.
We’ll bring you video live updates throughout the match, including video highlights of all the big plays and tries.
Make sure you refresh your page occasionally. We’ll add VIDEO COMING SOON when we’re cutting the highlights and VIDEO UP when it’s ready to be viewed.
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LIVE COMMENTARY: Warriors 12 – 22 Storm
FULL TIME, STORM TOO GOOD.
79 mins – Melbourne in possession they will have one last kick of the footy, Cronk tries a little grubber move with Slater but to no avail.
77 mins – Game effectively over now, Warriors fans can be disappointed but their team has played pretty well today, the Storm have just been a class above.
75 mins – TRY STORM! Vatuvei tries to spark something on the wing, he goes close to the sideline and hurls it back on the inside…Storm pick up the scraps and Billy Slater is electric through the middle…He finds Cam Smith backing up on the inside and the captain scores and converts. Great try Storm, clinical. Video coming.
72 mins – Here come the visitors looking to sink the Warriors…Johnson fields it and goes on a BIG run downfield, great stuff… Here we go Warriors with some field position…They go to the air…Awww great take Matt Duffie. Storm safe for now.
69 mins – Storm go to the air, Warriors field it and work away from their own line…Story of the half.
68 mins – Storm have just been clinical in this half, playing no frills, safe and secure rugby league. Warriors battling, they need to spark up here.
66 mins- Intercept from Duffie just as the Warriors were getting something going. Storm make it to their kick and pin the home side back on their own line once again.
63 mins – Duffie went close but was called back as the Warriors once again work out of their own half, they haven’t had any field position this half. Sweating on a Storm mistake now.
58 mins – Reliving penalty for the Warriors they’ve gone a bit quiet in the last five minutes. They barge it up the middle of the paddock, looking for holes in this watertight Storm D.
56 mins – TRY STORM, Cronk throws a lovely short ball to Will Chambers who slices through the Warriors line and scores to a chorus of boo’s. Cameron Smith adds the extra two and the visitors hit the lead for the first time. Video updated.
53 mins – Hurrell mistake, Storm ball.
52 mins – Glen Fisiiahi is coming back on the park, PENALTY Warriors, they are riding a bit of a wave at the moment.
50 mins – Ohh! Great defence Warriors the weather a Storm attack that ended in a Cronk chip near the posts…Solid at the back though and they work out well from their own end…Johnson kicks deep and forces the men in purple to work away from their own line.
47 mins – SLATER! Cuts through the middle of the park but it’s called back, was it a forward pass? Looks like it, Scrum down Warrior ball.
44 mins – Warriors feed a scrum near halfway, a full set to play with…
If you’re a rugby union fan be sure to check out our live chat about the All Blacks later this evening. Click here.
41 mins – Warriors work away from their own line after the Storm did much the same…Measured start to the second half. Warriors roll the dice and run it on the last, ball goes into touch however after much excitement.
Back after halftime, this is anyone’s game…Who will step up in the second spell?
HALFTIME.
40 mins – All action at the end of the half…Storm hammering on the line…Mannering gives away a penalty at marker and with time up the Storm will have a crack at two points…Smith comes in, strikes it aaaaaaaand he drags it across the face, no goal. That’s halftime, check out the video for first half highlights…See you soon for the second spell.
37 mins – Ahh! rough call on Konrad Hurrel, he got pinged for carrying on in the tackle…The Warriors then give away another penalty and it’s the Storm with field position and a chance…Scramble D down the left, Matt Duffie nearly gets loose.. Danger still present, Storm feed to scrum.
35 mins – Relieving penalty for the home side, a bit of field position, lets see what they can do…
33 mins – Looks like Maloney is covering at the back on defence…Storm go close but waste a chance on their kick. Warrios work away from their own line…Tight match.
30 mins – Glen Fisiiahi takes a seat on the bench, strained medial ligament, lots of ice and spray, hopefully not too serious.
28 mins – Warriors earn a repeat set as Duffie runs one dead…Here they come, Johnson and Maloney trying to weave some magic…Knock on Tupou from a mini bomb.
25 mins – Smith can’t add the extra two points, Warriors with a slim lead.
23 mins – A couple of completions before the Storm break through thanks to Billy Slater. The Warriors hustle back, Shaun Johnson with some desperate defence…Ohh looks like the Storm are over again… Lowe is claiming a four pointer, burrowing over near the play the ball. Video ref says….REF’S CALL! TRY AWARDED.
19 mins – TRY STORM! The lads from across the ditch hit back through Gareth Widdop. He simply ran an angle of Cronk and jogged it round under the posts, class effort and Smith adds the extras.
17 mins – Warriors go close again down the right hand side, Bill Tupou runs out of space however and the Storm come away with the pill. Video updated of the second try.
13 mins – TRY WARRIORS! They are in again through Manu Vatuvei…Back to back sets thanks to a penalty and then a lovely ball from Shaun Johnson put the Beast in space and he scooted over for the four pointer. Maloney nails the kick, Warriors up early in this one.
10 mins – Slater drops a short ball, Warriors let off and then a PENALTY, nice piggy back up field, here come the home side once more.
8 mins – Video updated of the try! Two settling sets from the teams before the Storm get a penalty at the ruck and now a chance to attack. Danger.
5 mins – TRY WARRIORS! Pretty ugly but it was effective, a last tackle play Maloney through a ground pass but it beats the Storm D and Hurrell picks up the scraps and dive over the line. Video coming.
4 mins – First real pressure on Billy Slater and the Australian and Queensland fullback takes the bomb with ease, however coming off their own line the Storm cough it up. Warriors ball in good attacking position.
3 mins – Storm play out their set and kick to touch also, close to a 40/20 but the Fish had it covered… Measured start from both sides so far.
1 min – Warriors receive the kickoff, a classic set of rugby league, make their kick through Maloney and find touch. Storm ball.
4:00pm: Moments away now, always an enticing clash…here we go.
3:50pm: Are you ready Warriors fans? Kickoff not far away, what are your picks?
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Teams:
Warriors: G Fisiiahi, B Tupou, B Henry, K Hurrell, M Vatuvei, J Maloney, S Johnson, R Packer, A Mara, B Matulino, E Taylor, S Mannering ©, F Mateo.
Bench: L Brown, Sam Rapira, Sione Lousi, J Lillyman.
Storm:B Slater, M Duffie, D Nielsen, W Chambers, J O'Neill, G Widdop, C Cronk, J Bromwich, C Smith ©, J Ryles, R Hinchcliffe, R Hoffman, T Lowrie.
Bench: A Quinn, R Kostjasyn, M Greenfield, J Lowe.
Pregame banter:
Warriors hooker Alehana Mara is relishing his head-to-head with the best in the business when NRL leaders Melbourne are in town on Sunday.
His opposite will be Storm skipper Cameron Smith and he's hoping he can make his presence felt at Auckland's Mt Smart Stadium.
Mara has come up against the Kangaroos and Queensland captain twice before - when the sides split their two regular season matches last year - but this will be his first time as starter.
"It will be a good battle and hopefully I can contain him," he said.
"I guess if we can stop his options and get to him before he can do anything, we can shut him down."
What the 22-year-old, who has just 12 first-grade appearances to his name, is also hoping for is a repeat of the big effort the forwards put in when the Warriors ran the Storm close in Melbourne on Anzac Day.
While the final score read 32-14, the Warriors were in the hunt at 14-14 with 11 minutes to go before the home side kicked away with three tries.
"The boys went well that night, especially up the middle," Mara said.
"It's just little bits of the game we have to fix up."
The Warriors will have their frontline propping rotation of Kiwis Ben Matulino, Russell Packer and Sam Rapira, and Queensland representative Jacob Lillyman back on deck again.
The quartet were reunited for the first time this season for the Warriors' 24-22 defeat before their bye last week.
That match was also Mara's first of the year in first grade, his call-up coming as replacement for the injured Nathan Friend.
Whereas Friend is a workaholic tackler, Mara is noted for his runs from dummy half.
For the Warriors, not clocking off is one area for improvement from the Anzac Day defeat.
Coach Brian McClennan has also identified the need to be spot on in what they did on the field, especially when defending against the settled halves combination of Cooper Cronk and Gareth Widdop.
"You just have to do a lot of things really well," he said.
"Because they have the same halves, when they execute their plays, they execute them extremely well, better than any other side I've seen."
McClennan said the Warriors had to avoid giving away penalties or presenting Melbourne with other re-start opportunities where they can run through their chosen plays for a specific defence.
While the Storm began the latest round a comfortable six points clear of their nearest pursuers, the Warriors were back down in ninth spot and hitting a key stretch of their campaign.
Four of their next six matches are against top-eight opposition and four of them are away from home.
"It's a really important six games," he said.
"It could be the group of games where we start to get real traction."
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