NZ Warriors have been been given a lesson in wet weather rugby league, outgunned 28-6 by South Sydney Rabbitohs in a soggy showdown in Auckland on Friday.
The Rabbitohs landed in Auckland with four losses in their last five games. But as they so often do against the Warriors, rose to the occasion to record their 14th victory in their past 15 contests against the NZ-based side, refusing to bow to the weather to run in five tries to one.
Without a victory over the Sydneysiders since round one of 2018, the result emphatically snapped the Warriors' three-game win streak - the defeat comfortably their biggest of the season to date under new coach Andrew Webster.
Playing in relentless driving rain, the Warriors were never allowed to find their attacking rhythm against a suffocating Rabbitohs defence, with their inability to turn their mountain of possession and territory in the opening quarter coming back to haunt them.
On the other side of the ball, the visitors' offence - led by half Cody Walker - was brutally efficient, defying the atrocious conditions to finish with a staggering 94 percent completion rate.
In stark contrast, the Warriors were consistently let down by handling errors and ill-advised decisionmaking. After their one and only try in the 17th minute, they rarely threatened the Rabbitohs' tryline.
The Warriors enjoyed the lion's share of the ball early, playing at the right end of the field courtesy of some Rabbitohs indiscipline but couldn't take advantage, as the visitors' line held firm.
But after three trips deep into Bunnies' territory, the pressure eventually took its toll. Hooker Wayde Egan exploded on a blindside raid from close range that caught the defence off guard, creating an overlap for Adam Pompey to put Marcelo Montoya sliding into the corner.
Shaun Johnson's sideline conversion gave the Warriors a deserved lead with just past a quarter of the match played - the Rabbitohs on the wrong side of a 6-0 penalty count.
Five minutes later on the back of Warriors' mistake, Souths had their first genuine redzone trip and cashed in immediately, with try-scoring machine Alex Johnston sent over wide on the back of some slick work by his centres.
After repeat sets inside the Warriors 20m, Addin Fonua-Blake was sent to the bin for a contentious high shot on Cam Murray, allowing the Rabbitohs to level the score of the tee with five minutes to play in the half.
The Warriors may have felt aggrieved at Fonua-Blake's quick marching, given the trio of penalties against the Rabbitohs for high shots that came in for no additional punishment.
An excellent set from the ensuing restart ended with Dallin Watene-Zelezniak spilling a bomb, opening the door for Murray to claim a simple try from a one-out pass from the play of the ball on the NZ line - despite what may have been interpreted as an obstruction on Warriors forward Mitchell Barnett.
That saw the Rabbitohs - in the face of a 60/40 territory disadvantage - take a 12-6 lead into the halftime break, ending a momentum-swinging period of play, leaving the Warriors to rue a handful of missed opportunities to ensure the scoreboard reflected their wealth of field position.
The Rabbitohs carried that momentum into the start of the second stanza and were soon in for their third try of the evening
From 15m out, stand-out half Cody Walker danced out of a tackle and placed a pinpoint chip kick right into Johnston's bread basket for the wing to grab his second try and extend his side's lead to 16-6.
With no respite in the driving rain, that 10-point lead felt closer to 20, as the Warriors struggled to win advantageous field position against the staunch Bunnies defence.
In the 58th minute, the Warriors looked to have broken those shackles. But Watene-Zelezniak's 60m intercept try was wiped out by the Bunker, which ruled he'd knocked on as he regathered a kick that had rebounded off his chest.
Twelve minutes later, the Rabbitohs were in again courtesy of a kick - this time provided by Lachin Ilias for debutant wing Tyrone Munro.
The Bunnies rubbed salt in Warriors' wounds with one final try, as Ilias broke and kicked back in field for fullback Blake Taaffe to win the race to the ball in the in-goal.
The Warriors now travel to Sydney to face Parramatta Eels next Saturday.
South Sydney Rabbitohs 28 (Johnston 2, Murray, Munro, Taaffe tries; Taaffe 3 cons, pen) NZ Warriors 6 (Montoya, Johnson con)
