Sporting contests often come down to one moment in time, where one team shows they simply want to win more than the other.
This was that moment for NZ Warriors, as they fell to their third straight NRL loss against St George Dragons, 24-18.
With 11 minutes to play and only four points behind on the scoreboard, the Warriors were still well in the contest and seemed to have their rivals pinned behind their tryline with a well-weighted kick from veteran half Shaun Johnson.
Dragons winger Mathew Feagai fielded the ball deep in his goal area and confronted by advancing defenders, flung a wild pass to centre Zac Lomax, who still had 7-8 metres to make the field of play.
As Warriors players swarmed on him and seemed likely to force a dropout, his Dragons teammates rushed to his assistance, pushing Lomax the required distance to reach the goal-line and avoid another defensive set.
"What sport are we watching here?" wondered Fox Sport commentator Andrew Voss.
Probably more than any scoring play, that 'rolling maul' showed St George's determination not to let victory slip from their grasp - even if it was highly questionable.
"I'd never seen that before," admitted Dragons coach Anthony Griffin. "I'd have to have another look at it, but I don't think you're allowed to do that.
"I'm glad [ref Chris Sutton] let it go, because we got out of our in-goal, but... I was a bit miffed all day, to be honest. It took us 78 minutes to get a six-to-go and there was a lot of stuff out there that was confusing.
"It was a massive play. It was just a sign of what they wanted to do in the second half. They wanted to win that game and lifted themselves with little efforts like that, and a few other things defensively when we needed them."
Both teams, mired outside top-eight playoff contention, scored four tries, with Lomax's goalkicking proving the difference on the day, but Warriors coach Nathan Brown was left lamenting defensive lapses - like the 'rolling maul' - that led to their downfall.
"Four tries should be enough to win most games," he said. "If we look at the game, a couple of blokes made a couple of defensive choices that were not the correct ones and that's where NRL is.
"If we defended a little bit better in some areas, we'd get better field position at times.
"There were a couple of key moments when we just handed tries to them and in the NRL, you just can't do that."
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