Warriors 20 (Harris, Turner, Tuivasa-Sheck tries, Nikorima 3con, 1pen) bt
Dragons 14 (Ramsey, Rakalawa, Dufty tries, Lomax 1con) HT:12-8
The NZ Warriors have produced their best performance of the season, scoring a hard-fought 20-14 win over the in-form St George Dragons in Wollongong.
St George entered the match off the back of four wins in five games, which included tripping up the Parramatta Eels last week, but the Warriors hung tough in the wake of another horror day with injuries.
Pita Hiku and Adam Pomey had to be assisted off the field with serious injuries with Hiku appearing to break his right arm early in the first half.
Pompey limped off the field late in the match with a leg injury after producing a strong effort in attack and defence.
But the reward is two vital competition points with the traditional Anzac clash scheduled against the Melbourne Storm coming next week.
It leaves the Warriors with three wins from three games, and they will end the weekend inside the top eight.
Despite starting with the purpose that was missing in the last play loss to Manly a week ago, the Warriors leaked the first try of the match, when Dragons winger Corey Ramsey dotted down in the corner off an assist from impressive fullback Matt Dufty.
But the Warriors continued to play with confidence and when Tohu Harris scored in the 13th minute, Nathan Brown's side had a deserved lead.
Bench player Paul Turner, who replaced Hiku, scored an opportunistic try on the next set after a mistake from Dufty inside the Dragons in-goal to extend the Warriors lead to eight.
A Mikaele Rakalawa try late in the first half had the Warriors taking a 12-8 lead into the sheds at the break.
The second-half was somewhat of an arm-wrestle with both sides struggling to break defensive resistance, until Dufty pounced and a well-weighted Corey Norman grubber to put the Dragons in front.
But on this day, the Warriors would not be denied and through inspirational skipper Roger Tuivasa-Sheck they re-took the lead with 10 minutes to go.
Playing his 100th NRL match, the soon-to-be rugby star stepped his way to the tryline after being put in half a gap by Kodi Nikorima.
The try capped a wonderful display from Tuivasa-Sheck, who added 265 run metres and two line breaks to his crucial four pointer.
Nikorima added a penalty with five minutes to play and the Warriors had their first win since last month's thriller against the Canberra Raiders.
