Sun 12 Apr, 2015, 7:08am
By Corey Rosser, NZ Correspondent, NRL.com
Wests Tigers hooker Dene Halatau said his squad urgently need to improve their ruck defence, after losing to the Warriors in a high-scoring encounter at Mt Smart Stadium. Off the back of a dominant showing from the Warriors forward pack which ran for a combined 895 metres, the home team's little men caused plenty of headaches for the Tigers up the middle of the park. The Warriors scored 20 unanswered points in a 14-minute stretch, taking full advantage of a Tigers' defensive line which was helpless to contain their roll.
"Their ruck speed got us in that period and they were able to run through us and score some tries," Halatau told NRL.com. "They had a lot of ball, that didn't help our cause, they were getting quick play the balls and managed to score some points. "It was a good effort from the boys but we let ourselves down with our ruck control."
Even after trailing 20-6 in the first period the feeling was that they had enough points in them to come back, which they very nearly did. "I thought we were good up the other end when we got the ball, we managed to score some points of our own," Halatau added. "As soon as we got to 20-18 behind I think we were confident we could perhaps steal it away from them."But they kicked away a bit further and we were at odds to try and win it from there
By Corey Rosser, NZ Correspondent, NRL.com
Wests Tigers hooker Dene Halatau said his squad urgently need to improve their ruck defence, after losing to the Warriors in a high-scoring encounter at Mt Smart Stadium. Off the back of a dominant showing from the Warriors forward pack which ran for a combined 895 metres, the home team's little men caused plenty of headaches for the Tigers up the middle of the park. The Warriors scored 20 unanswered points in a 14-minute stretch, taking full advantage of a Tigers' defensive line which was helpless to contain their roll.
"Their ruck speed got us in that period and they were able to run through us and score some tries," Halatau told NRL.com. "They had a lot of ball, that didn't help our cause, they were getting quick play the balls and managed to score some points. "It was a good effort from the boys but we let ourselves down with our ruck control."
Even after trailing 20-6 in the first period the feeling was that they had enough points in them to come back, which they very nearly did. "I thought we were good up the other end when we got the ball, we managed to score some points of our own," Halatau added. "As soon as we got to 20-18 behind I think we were confident we could perhaps steal it away from them."But they kicked away a bit further and we were at odds to try and win it from there
