Wests Tigers defeat the 12-man Warriors with ease.

After playing with 12 men for an hour of the 18-16 loss, the Warriors probably left Christchurch happier than the Wests Tigers, who had a successful start to the season on Sunday afternoon.

Declan Casey’s game was ended by Warriors forward Zyon Maiu’u on the 20th minute for a shoulder charge. The action was halted for a few minutes while Casey required medical attention, as it appeared that he had been knocked unconscious.

At that time, the Wests Tigers were ahead 12–6, but they were having trouble finding their rhythm again and needed 38 minutes to cross again after early tries from Alex Seyfarth and Aidan Sezer were scored in between Jacob Laban’s four-pointer for the hosts.

Even if the team’s overall performance wasn’t very impressive, Benji Marshall, the new coach, will probably be happy with what he saw in the second half from off-season additions Sezer and Jayden Sullivan, who both did a great job of kicking the ball about the field and had some nice moments.

Roger Tuivasa-Sheck’s first rugby league match in thirty-one months was a great success, and the Warriors will learn a lot from the defensive tenacity displayed beyond the send-off.

RTS played for 58 minutes, during which he made some smart defensive reads out wide, prevented two certain tries with last-ditch tackles, and was generally successful when in possession, averaging just under 10 meters per carry across 13 runs.

With 22 minutes remaining, Sione Latoa-Vaihu scored his team’s third try, giving the Wests Tigers hope that they may continue, but rapid tries from Paul Roache and Setu Tu soon ended that hope.

The Wests Tigers led 18–16 after a bungled conversion on Tu’s try, and they managed to hang on for the win in front of 13,760 spectators at Apollo Projects Stadium.