Canterbury have come from behind twice to deny an emotional Shaun Johnson a fairytale farewell in the Warriors veteran’s final game in Auckland.
The Bulldogs defied a spirited, sell-out Mt Smart Stadium crowd to win 34-18 and close the gap on Cronulla and the Sydney Roosters in the race for the NRL top four.
Cameron Ciraldo’s men have now won five in five as they continue to mount the unlikeliest of title tilts following seven years without finals football.
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Rain pelted down for much of the game but the waterworks started early when Johnson, given a guard of honour with his wife and children, walked onto the field with tears streaming down his face.
With emotions and strong winds swirling around him, it was unsurprising the 33-year-old dropped his first pass of the game cold.
A frustrated Andrew Webster said it was a special night to see the crowd turn out for Johnson, even if they couldn’t give their talismanic halfback a winning send-off.
“We wanted to celebrate tonight, and I think we should still acknowledge Sean’s contribution and what he’s done. But yeah, I wish we had’ve done it on a good note,” the Warriors coach said.
Even though their season was already over, a motivated Warriors outfit came out firing.
They dominated possession early and ran out to a 12-0 lead with tries to Marcelo Montoya and Kurt Capewell, both assisted by Luke Metcalf.
In his second game back since breaking his leg in round four, Metcalf reassured Warriors fans they had another talented half to look forward to in Johnson’s absence.
Canterbury only managed to complete one set in the first 15 minutes.
“We probably started exactly the way we didn’t want to,” Ciraldo said.
“But really proud of our guys to fight back from that, draw back possession, and then get ourselves back into the game.”
When they finally found their foothold the Bulldogs showed their class, scoring three tries through Bronson Xerri, Stephen Crichton and Kurtis Morrin in an eight-minute blitz.
Viliame Kikau taking the chance to stretch out those powerful, rangy legs after breaking through the Warriors’ defence in the lead-up to Morrin’s try was a particular sight to behold, reviving memories of his Penrith glory days.
Wayde Egan helped the home side get their noses back in front at halftime. The hooker sold a dummy to the Bulldogs markers and dived over beside the posts.
Canterbury were typically bullish in defence, keeping the Warriors scoreless in the second half, but were lucky to keep their full complement.
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck was sent from the field concussed after bearing a Crichton shoulder to the head.
But Crichton, who was placed on report, did not follow him, despite similar tackles being met with sin-binnings throughout this season.
Referee Wyatt Raymond said there were several “mitigating” factors in the tackle.
But the decision baffled commentators and fans.
“Oh hello, now we have a problem. Houston, we have a problem, man concussed, shoulder and no arms. The crowd is unhappy,” said Fox League commentator Andrew Voss.
“High level of mitigation? Where is Stephen Crichton using the arms in that tackle?
“That’s a very controversial decision there. Obviously you’ve seen a lot more forceful shoulders to the heads of opponents but the consequences are there on a tackle that was nowhere near copybook technique and it’s still 13 on 13.”
And New Zealand coach Andrew Webster was filthy after the game.
“I think we’ve got a big part to play in (the loss) but I’m struggling to understand how a shoulder can go into Roger’s head and the bunker’s got ages to see it in a critical time of the game and then we lose Roger and we’ve got to reshuffle all our team,” he said.
“You’ve got to reshuffle anyway, that’s football, but if it happens because it just happens (that’s OK), but when it happens like that and nothing gets done to them … we’ve got to protect our players.
“And I just don’t see the consistency one little bit around that. Roger will miss next week now and couldn’t come back (into the game) and their player (Crichton) goes on (playing). That’s it.
“There are some parts there that we could have controlled better tonight, and the boys know that, but I am just frustrated how that happens.
“I just think they need to know what they’re doing, personally. I just don’t think they know. I don’t think they understand because the wording around what they say just isn’t clear. It’s hard.”
The only sour note for Canterbury’s charge to the finals was an injury concern for lock Kurt Mann, who was pulled from the field clutching his shoulder in pain.
– With Cameron Noakes
