Source: Radio New Zealand
Taine Tuaupiki and Keno Kini will bring plenty of x-factor from fullback, when the Warriors meet the Titans. RNZ/Photosport
NRL: NZ Warriors v Gold Coast Titans
Kickoff 5pm, Saturday, 18 April
Go Media Stadium, Auckland
Live blog updates on RNZ website
Despite their historic win over Melbourne Storm, NZ Warriors can’t afford any hangover against their next opponents, who have made a habit of playing giantkillers at Go Media Stadium.
Gold Coast Titans may find themselves at the wrong end of the NRL table – they last reached the post-season in 2021 – but that certainly hasn’t deterred them in recent trips across the Tasman.
If Warriors coach Andrew Webster needed any reminder of their ability, he would have found it watching them putting 50 points on Parramatta Eels on Sunday.
“Speed, offloads,” he lists. “You think you’ve got them where you want them, next minute you don’t.
“You can’t lack concentration. Last time they were here, I think they completed, like, 20/21 sets [40/44 for the game] and made it really hard for us.
“They’re not scared to come here and they’re coming off a really good victory. They’re fearless and there’s lots we have to be prepared for, but if we focus on ourselves and do what we want to do, we can make it harder for them.”
Here’s what you need to know about the round seven encounter.
History
Gold Coast are one of just four current NRL teams that the Warriors have a winning head-to-head record against.
Alofiana Khan-Pereira scored four tries against the Warriors during Gold Coasts’ record 2024 win. DAVE HUNT / PHOTOSPORT
They first contested the Aussie rugby league competition in 1988-89 as the Gold Coast-Tweed Giants and went through various iterations until 1998, when the then-Chargers compiled a miserable 4-20 record and folded at the end of the season.
The Titans were re-admitted as the league’s 16th team in 2007 and, since then, the Warriors have a 21-15 record, which is their highest winning percentage (58.3 percent) against any team.
That’s not to say it’s been oneway traffic. In fact, the Titans have won seven of the last 10 meetings, including the last three at Mt Smart.
They ran up the biggest margin in the rivalry, when they wiped the Warriors off Cbus Super Stadium 66-6 in June 2024.
New Warrior Alofiana Khan-Pereira grabbed four tries for the home side that day, Kiwis fullback Keano Kini had a double and five-eighth Jayden Campbell converted all 11 tries, while Te Maire Martin scored the Warriors’ only try.
The Warriors’ biggest win was 42-0 in August 2014, when fullback Sam Tompkins scored two tries and half Shaun Johnson was a perfect 7/7 from the tee.
They also won their most recent meeting, breaking a three-game losing streak against the Titans with a 32-18 win across the ditch, with Roger Tuivasa-Sheck scoring a try double and Tanah Boyd slotting 6/6 goals against his old team.
Form
After dropping back-to-back losses against Wests Tigers and Cronulla Sharks, the Warriors rebounded in sensational fashion, breaking their 11-year drought against Melbourne Storm 38-14 in Melbourne.
Wing Dallin Watene-Zelezniak scored two tries and should have had a third, as the Warriors lead 18-14 at halftime and kept their opponents scoreless through the second half.
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak has scored five tries in his last two outings – and should have had a sixth. www.photosport.nz / Izhar Khan
They are now 4-2 for the season and sit third on the table after six rounds, behind Penrith Panthers and the Tigers, relying on superior points differential to edge out five other teams.
The Warriors lead the competition in try assists (29) and total kick metres (3905), with Boyd heading both individual categories. They trail only Melbourne in set completion (83 percent), while Dally M Medal-leading Jackson Ford sits two metres behind North Queensland’s Jason Taumalolo in post-contact metres (443).
Gold Coast were 14th with a 2-4 record, after a convincing 52-10 win over Parramatta. Campbell, wing Sialetili Faeamani and centre Phillip Sami had try doubles, while Campbell kicked 8/9 from the tee, for a personal haul of 24 points.
The Titans are among the league leaders in errors (70), penalties conceded (38) and handling errors (61).
Teams
Warriors: 1. Taine Tuaupiki, 2. Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, 3. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, 4. Ali Leiataua, 5. Alofiana Khan-Pereira, 6. Chanel Harris-Tavita, 7. Tanah Boyd, 8. James Fisher-Harris, 9. Wayde Egan, 10. Jackson Ford, 11. Leka Halasima, 12. Kurt Capewell, 13. Erin Clark
Interchange: 14. Same Healey, 15. Marata Niukore, 16. Demitric Vaimauga, 17. Jacob Laban, 18. Luke Hanson, 20. Eddie Ieremia-Toeava
Reserves: 21. Morgan Gannon, 22. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, 23. Mitch Barnett
Webster has kept faith with the team that dominated the Storm last week, retaining Tuivasa-Sheck and Ali Leiataua in the centres, Chanel Harris-Tavita at five-eighth and Taine Tuaupiki at fullback.
Veteran Kurt Capewell will return from calf strain against the Titans. Andrew Cornaga/p
Reserve forward Tanner Stowers-Smith will be sidelined by a hamstring injury, but Webster has brought veteran Kurt Capewell in the starting pack, after his recovery from a calf strain, and has also named co-captain Mitch Barnett (broken thumb) and Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad (neck) among the reserves for possible return.
The Warriors have three ex-Titans in their squad – Boyd, Khan-Pereira and lock Erin Clark.
Titans: 1. Keano Kini, 2. Sialetili Faeamani, 3. Jojo Fifita, 4. AJ Brimson, 5. Phillip Sami, 6. Lachlan Ilias, 7. Jayden Campbell, 8. Kurtis Morrin, 9. Sam Verrills, 10. Tino Fa’asuamaleaui, 11. Arama Hau, 12. Beau Fermor, 13. Chris Randall
Interchange: 14. Oliver Pascoe, 15. Cooper Bai, 16. Moeaki Fotuaika, 17. Adam Christensen, 18. Jaylan de Groot, 19. Zane Harrison
Reserves: 20. Klese Haas, 21. Josh Patston, 22. Jensen Taumoepeau
Meanwhile, new Titans coach Josh Hannay has also stuck with the squad that delivered against the Eels last week.
Second-rower Klese Haas missed that performance with a leg injury, but has been included on the extended bench.
Winger Sialetili Faeamani was born in Auckland and came up through the Warriors junior ranks, playing alongside the likes Leka Halasima and Demtric Vaimauga.
Player to watch
At their best – as they were last week – the Titans are electric on attack and half Jayden Campbell seems to be the key to that.
Jayden Campbell is the catalyst to everything unpredictable about Gold Coast. AAP/Photosport
He’s the son of the very first Titan – inaugural signing Preston Campbell – and has been a real thorn in the Warriors’ side in recent years.
Kiwi player to watch
Kiwis fullback Keano Kini is another capable of tearing a team apart with his speed and, although he didn’t score against the Eels last week, he led the Titans in running metres (265), linebreaks (4) and fantasy points (90), while laying on three try assists and making six tacklebreaks.
Much like Tuaupiki for the Warriors, his slight build and shifty footwork makes him a real gamebreaker.
They said it
“What this win does for us will only tell in coming weeks, but it should certainly leave us with confidence that, when we play the style we want to play, and turn up for each other and have your mate’s back, we’re going to get what we want most often.”
Webster puts the win over Melbourne into perspective
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck lets Will Warbrick know the Storm dominance is over. AAP / Photosport
“This is a different team to what they were last year or any other year. I’ve never been here before and we’re on a different journey, so they do a really good job on not hanging onto stuff… and that will be the message out of this – we can’t hang onto it, we have to move forward.”
Hannay puts the win over Parramatta into perspective
What will happen
Surely the Warriors have turned a corner and are ready to build on their performance against the Storm.
Depends which version of the Warriors turns up, but they should win by 10 or more.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
