The New Zealand Warriors' winning streak ended at five tonight as the Sydney Roosters produced a robust defensive effort to win their National Rugby League match 13-6 in Sydney.
The Warriors, who went into the match on the back of a bye last week, lacked spark despite dominating possession and territory and were made to pay for their profligacy when the Roosters scored two tries late in the first half.
The visitors, trailing 12-0 at the break, hit back soon after the resumption, but despite having a another try ruled out, could not produce the goods to battle their way back and when Roosters standoff Todd Carney landed a field goal with two minutes late the Warriors' hopes of a comeback were quashed.
The Warriors handed a debut to 20-year-old halfback Shaun Johnson in the absence of Brett Seymour who suffered a facial injury in the win over South Sydney two weeks ago and dominated the Roosters in the opening stanza but ended the half trailing after conceding two tries inside three minutes.
Roosters backrower Aidan Guerra barged his way over from a metre out in the tackle of Elijah Taylor four minutes before the break and then Kiwis international Shaun Kenny-Dowall swooped on a kick through from Anthony Minichiello three minutes later. Braith Anasta nailed both conversions to give the hosts a 12-0 lead at the interval.
The Warriors would have been kicking themselves in the dressing room after letting things slip late in the half when they had piled plenty of pressure on the Roosters.
They forced two line dropouts in the opening 15 minutes as Johnson showed no sign of nerves and standoff James Maloney had the measure of last year's Dally M medal recipient Todd Carney.
But the Roosters showed fortitude to repel multiple attacks by the Warriors and then gradually worked their way into the match and showed more potency at the attacking end of the field than the Warriors to score through Guerra and Kenny-Dowall, the latter's seventh of the season.
Coach Ivan Cleary's halftime pep talk had the desired result four minutes after the resumption for the Warriors when Johnson's grubber kick was spilled by Roosters winger Joseph Leilua and Warriors captain Simon Mannering was fastest to react and dotted down. The Warriors then had their collective hearts in their mouths after Leilua raced away to score at the other end before the video referee ruled in Mannering's favour.
They thought they had another try five minutes later after Roosters debutant Rhys Pritchard botched Maloney's bomb which was regathered by Krisnan Inu who then sent Maloney over before the official watching the replay found an infringement.
The visitors were defiant in defence and the Warriors could find no way through and when Carney landed a field goal with a two minutes left the match was theirs and last year's finalists could chalk up just their fourth win of the season.
But the Roosters look likely to be without Kenny-Dowall for an extended period after he limped off with an ankle injury in the second half and the news was also bad for the Warriors with forward Steve Rapira, who made his debut off the bench, suffering a serious wrist injury.
