Aotearoa Warriors Diary: Ooh Ah, Up The Wahs!
NZ Warriors did their job in getting a win over Raiders and hearty South Islanders did their job in whipping up a glorious atmosphere in Christchurch. The official crowd figure of 17,249 seems low given how hectic the environment was and apparently this wasn't the biggest NRL crowd in Christchurch over the past decade as 18,000 folks showed up to watch NZW vs Panthers in 2016.
It felt like at least 20,000 fans showed up for this game, such was the buzz around the ground. 24,076 people were at Mt Smart for the loss to Sharks in the first round and yet the atmosphere wasn't as good as Christchurch. As NZW lost to Sharks the announcer offered all sorts of cringe with low energy artificial chants and it was the opposite in Christchurch as fans generated their own chants, their own hype.
Suddenly there is an 'Ooh ah, up the Wahs!' chant in the fridge for fans to deploy.
The best thing about all of this is that some competition is brewing between NZW crowds in Auckland and Christchurch. Are folks at Mt Smart going to let Christchurch have better crowds than them? Christchurch has the best NZW crowd in 2024 and apart from the finals game at Mt Smart last year, the whole atmosphere in Christchurch was among the best NZW crowds of the two Andys era.
Every Monday/Friday we deliver a free newsletter full of Aotearoa sporting things. The Friday dispatch prior to NZW vs Raiders featured a mini breakdown of all the Kiwi-NRL talent coming out of Canterbury/West Coast as an example of how deep the rugby league roots are in that region. That breakdown didn't include any Bulldogs players which is funky considering how Bulldogs have a partnership with Canterbury Rugby League and yet most NRL teams have a Kiwi-NRL junior from Canterbury/West Coast in their system.
The wider Canterbury region loves rugby league and all rugby league fans should tap in with how popular rugby league is around Aotearoa. NZW fans should know that there is no need for anxiety about the Bulldogs partnership with CRL. Despite that partnership, Christchurch just delivered one of the best NZW crowds of the past decade. NZW have roughly 10 juniors from Canterbury in their system and there are lots of Kiwi-NRL juniors from the South Island scattered across Australia; there is enough talent from Aotearoa for everyone.
NZW grabbed their first win of the season but they didn't do much different. The preview for this game had a stat ranking list for NZW and most of their stats were in the middle bracket (8th-13th), setting the scene that NZW weren't horrible in their 0-2 start. Most of the stats from the win vs Raiders were similar to their mahi in two losses and after having over 50% possession in the two losses, NZW dipped down to 48% against Raiders.
The manner of the victory is intriguing given that Raiders had a winning start to the season through rugby league basics. The easiest thing to highlight about how NZW embrace the set-for-set grind is how they kick, allow the opponent to make a catch and then load up in defence. Commentators and some fans will want Rocco Berry to compete for high kicks for example, meanwhile Berry and his NZW homies are playing the long game.
NZW won the long game against Raiders. Early in the first half there were signs of what was possible as NZW shape opened up spaces in the Raiders defence and this offered confidence that NZW could roll out shape to score at any stage. Most of the first half involved completing sets, kicking to the Raiders 10m line and a whack/wrestle combo in defence.
Patience in repeating this cycle led to a winning phase of two tries later in the second half. Addin Fonua-Blake's try to start the game was pure shape and execution. Tries for Luke Metcalf and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck involved structure (hitting a hole and 'get the ball to Roger)' but NZW pounced on random moments. Most importantly, after 60mins of grinding Raiders down, both second half tries took advantage of tired defenders who couldn't track across the field as Dallin Watene-Zelezniak set up Metcalf and couldn't handle Roger Tuivasa-Sheck after a quick shift.
There may be something to winning the random nature of footy, adapting to the situation and getting the job done. No Wayde Egan, Dylan Walker and Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad. Taine Tuaupiki played half the game due to injury with Tuivasa-Sheck stepping into that role, while Kurt Capewell covered centre. Considering that Tuivasa-Sheck and Chanel Harris-Tavita are third in the fullback/hooker slots, NZW depth was on display.
The bench played their roles nicely. Harris-Tavita added energy to the dummy half role after Freddy Lussick flexed his mana with 68mins of rugged mahi. Tom Ale and Bunty Afoa both enjoyed the most game time of the three games this season. Afoa has tallies of 15mins, 25mins and 26mins. Ale has 0mins, 14mins and 24mins. Jazz Tevaga played 34mins and his energy was palpable, rolling through 10 runs - 101m @ 10.1m/run.
The four bench players also made 83 tackles and missed three, with the three bench forwards missing one tackle each. Speaking of defence, this game was a reminder that Berry is a vacuum without the footy. Albert Hopoate was the unlucky lad to line up against Berry and any time the Raiders shifted to that edge, Berry would clean it all up. It didn't matter whether it was Hopoate, Hudson Young or Ethan Strange; they all learned about who Rocco Berry is.
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Peace and love.