Knights stun Warriors, set up prelim date with Penrith
George Clarke |
Newcastle’s fairytale finals run has claimed another scalp as the Knights toppled the Warriors 12-10 to set up a preliminary final showdown with Penrith.
In front of a heavily pro-Warriors crowd at Auckland’s Eden Park on Sunday, the undermanned Knights celebrated one of their most famous victories with tries from Fletcher Sharpe and Dominic Young.
The Knights will play the Panthers at Accor Stadium on Sunday in their first preliminary final since 2013, which further underlines the club’s incredible revival under coach Justin Holbrook after they finished with the 2025 wooden spoon.
Holbrook, who guided the Knights to seventh at the end of the regular season, is the strongest candidate to be crowned Dally M coach of the year after his troops battled to finals wins over South Sydney and the Warriors without their first-choice front row and prized playmaker Dylan Brown.
From the kick-off, the Knights – led by captain Kalyn Ponga and the electrifying Sharpe – chanced their arm and were unlucky to have not scored twice in the opening 10 minutes of the semi-final.
Dane Gagai threw a forward pass to Young after a blistering break from five-eighth Sharpe, before the No.6 had his only try chalked off because of a Francis Manuleleua knock on in the lead-up.
The Warriors could also count themselves lucky that Ali Leiataua was only placed on report after collecting Ponga high with no intent to wrap his arms.
Centre Leka Halasima crossed soon after Sharpe’s try was ruled out to give the Warriors a 12th minute lead.
The home side enjoyed a bounty of possession and territory for the next 15 minutes but a combination of poor last-tackle options and courageous Newcastle defending meant the Warriors came up empty handed.
The Knights have made a habit of striking from distance this season and a break down the left through Bradman Best levelled the game.
Best burst through the Warriors’ right edge in the 29th minute and found Sharpe on his inside, the five-eighth juggling the infield pass to race 30m to score.
Sandon Smith had no issue with the conversion to make it 6-6 at halftime and Newcastle didn’t take long to hit the front.
Manuleleua jolted the ball loose from Dallin Watene-Zelezniak and on the first tackle the Knights spread the ball to the right where Gagai unleashed Young with a flick pass and the towering Englishman touched down.
Smith again made the conversion to open up a six-point buffer with 35 minutes to go and it felt as if the Warriors were running out of chances as winger Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad failed a head injury assessment and Leiataua had a try ruled out for an obstruction.
Halasima scored with an incredible 70th minute finish to give the Warriors hope but Taine Tuaupiki missed the sideline conversion.
Both Tuaupiki and Ponga went off for head injury assessments in a nail-biting final 10 minutes but the Knights held firm to win.
AAP