NRL: Warriors come back from death to defeat Sharks

Shaun Johnson kicks the winning penalty for the Warriors.
Photo: David Neilson / Photosport

Incredible, miraculous, phenomenal, astounding. Call it what you want, the Warriors pulled off a comeback for the ages to beat the Sharks 32-30 on Sunday.

Having fought their way back from being down 20-0 after 18 minutes, thanks to another dreadful start, they took the score 30-30 with 11 minutes to go before Shaun Johnson stepped up to kick the winning penalty in the final minute.

But with one final twist, Nicho Hynes missed a Sharks penalty with three seconds left on the clock.

People talk about how the Warriors have changed under Andrew Webster, but there’s been nothing like this so far this year. The way they came back from what would have probably been a 70-point thrashing in previous years says everything about what’s happing at the club.

But the Warriors really do need to sort out their starts, because miracle wins like this won’t happen every week.

This time it took just a minute for Marata Niukore to make an error, then the ball to bobble loose as Ed Kosi and Ronaldo Mulitalo both went for a high cross field kick and from it, Teig Wilson scored.

But unlike other weeks there wasn’t an immediate bounce back from the Warriors as when the Sharks again attacked on the left a few minutes later they scored again.

After seven minutes, the Warriors had been in possession of the ball for just 14 seconds and were already down 12-0. It couldn’t have been any worse.

Having hit Kosi’s side for the first two tries, the Sharks went to Marcelo Montoya’s edge for what turned out to be their third and again there was an overlap to allow Sione Katoa to score.

In the 21st minute, Wayde Egan, who’s an early contender to pick up the Simon Mannering Medal this year, scored a try for the Warriors, getting hold of a loose ball after a Johnson bomb.

On the other side of a William Kennedy try for the Sharks in the 26th minute, Niukora powered his way through for another Warriors try.

Warriors’ hopes weren’t helped by Niukore being sin binned just before halftime for a hip drop tackle on Siosifa Talakai, but the visitors did score first in the second half, with Mulitalo dropping a Johnson bomb and the halfback then running through to pick up the ball and cross the line.

Kosi, who had to deal with trash talk from Mulitalo all day, scored the Warriors’ fourth try in the 51st minute, with Johnson’s conversion putting his team just two points behind.

Mulitalo gave it back when he scored his second try in the 55th minute, but Josh Curran’s storming run across the line and Johnson’s subsequent conversion levelled the scores at 30-30.

With six minutes to go Dale Finucane was sin binned for a hip drop tackle on Charnze Nicoll-Klolstad.

In the final minute referee Ben Cummins awarded the Warriors a penalty 35m out after Curran was held back from getting to the ball and Johnson nailed the kick.

But with three seconds left on the clock, Johnson touched the ball in an offside position.

Hynes stepped up to take the kick from a tough angle and missed, giving the Warriors one of the most remarkable wins in the club’s history.

* This story originally appeared on Stuff.