Mounties have stormed back into the top four of the VB NSW Cup with a crushing 42-4 victory over the NZ Warriors at Aubrey Keech Reserve on Saturday.
Needing a win over the higher placed Warriors to keep in touch with the top end of the ladder Mounties came out firing and opened the scoring in the 8th minute when some sustained pressure from the home team saw Ryan Carr cross for the first try which was converted by Mitch Cornish for a 6-0 lead.
Just five minutes later Jeremy Hawkins scored a slashing try when he found some space on the right edge to make it 10-0 with the conversion going across the goal from wide out and in the 16th minute Lagi Setu charged on to a nice inside ball from Carr to score his first of the day and make it 14-0 to Mounties.
Mounties then enjoyed a glut of possession due to some unforced errors from the Warriors and in the 23rd minute Jack Ahearn crossed the stripe after steaming onto a deft pass from Setu to make it 20-0 and the Warriors appeared shell shocked.
Mounties were not about to put the glasses down just yet and in the 28th minute a grubber from Ryan Carr into the Warriors in goal was spilt and Bill Tupou was on the spot place his hand on the ball to claim the try and it was 26-0 with Cornish able to convert.
In the 34th minute Mounties were in again when a Cornish bomb was spilt in the in goal by the Warriors and in the scramble for the ball Sami Sauiluma won the race and it was 30-0 and the game appeared out of reach for the visitors who struggled to half time.
In the second half the Warriors came out with more resolve and it was fifteen minutes before Mounties were able to shift the ball to their left edge where Jake Foster found a hole and charged down field before putting in a kick which was scoped up by Sauiluma who scored his second under the sticks to make 36-0 at the 55 minute mark.
Play then went end to end and in the 62nd minute Kyle O'Donnell was sin binned for Mounties after a string of penalties and Abraham Papalii was able to take advantage to crash over for the Warriors to make it 36-4.
Play then got a bit scrappy by both teams with some fundamental handling errors creeping in and in the 74th minute Jeremy Hawkins took advantage when he sliced through the line from a scrum win 40 metres out and had the pace to burn off the cover defence to score and make the final scoreline 42-4 in favour of Mounties.
Next week Mounties take on the Illawarra Cutters on Saturday from Ron Costello Oval in Shellharbour with play getting underway from 3pm.
