By Simon Hampton
On Twitter: @simonhampton9
Hello and welcome to Leichardt Oval in Sydney for NRL action between the Wests Tigers and the Warriors.
Well, all the talk this week has been regarding the future of Benji Marshall.
The Tigers have confirmed that tonight’s match will be Benji’s last at Leichardt Oval.
Can the Tigers send him off in style, or will the Warriors crash the party?
We bring you live streaming written commentary, video highlights (be sure to refresh your browser) and all the rugby action. VIDEO will be available as soon as the final whistle goes.
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LIVE COMMENTARY... Tigers 14-24 Warriors
Wrap Thanks all for joining me, not pretty, but a vital two points taken away by the Warriors. Benji farewells Leichardt on a sour note, where will he end up? I'll be back tomorrow night with the Crusaders V Reds from Christchurch from 7pm, until then, enjoy your Friday night!
Full time WARRIORS WIN! Johnson has a cheeky field goal attempt, but it hits the post. And that is it. Check out the video!!
78 mins They almost do!! Johnson kicks through, but Hurrell knocks on trying to regather.. and the Tigers restart from their own 20.
78 mins Warriors have it back now.. a win looking all but secured here. Can they top it off though? They're on halfway
75 mins Johnson drills it downfield, and disaster! The Tigers have lost it on their own line!! Warriors hot on attack now with a fresh set metres from the line.. well I said Johnson's been great, but that wasn't a great kick from him. Goes dead and the Tigers restart
74 mins TIgers lose it! And it's back with the Warriors!!Mateo brings it up to the 40 now
73 mins Well this is a ridiculous call, and the Tigers have a penalty. Hurrell's been done for a tackle on someone without the ball. But that's an awful call! Here come the Tigers now, they're 20 out.
71 mins Johnson adds 2! And now the Warriors spill the kickoff, and the Tigers are hot on attack!! Marshall throws a shocker, and Mannering dives on it. Danger over, as the Warriors bring it out
68 mins SHAUN JOHNSON YOU FREAK! He is having a blinder!! Rapira breaks upfield, passes to Johnson, who stabs through a perfect grubber for his skipper Mannering to run onto, and the captain dots down!!
66 mins Ball's back with the Tigers now, on halfway, tackle 4.. Vatuvei flattens Ayshford, but they're 40 out last tackle, Marshall bombs, Anasta climbs, but he knocks on! Scrum for the Warriors 10 from their own line
63 mins Leuluai knocks on! With the Warriors 10 out, the number 6 has spilled it. Tigers ball now on their own line
61 mins NO TRY! Mannering has knocked on. Back with the play though, and the Warriors are bringing it out from their own line, JOHNSON AGAIN! He breaks, passes to Fisiiahi, who chips ahead, Johnson toes it forward, looking for a hattrick buuuuuut the Tigers man has slapped it dead. Line dropout!
60 mins Johnson is on fire!!He grubbers in behind, it bumps off the padding of the post, and I think Mannering has dived on it fuirst!! They've gone upstairs
58 mins He adds the extras, and Johnson has two for the night. Now it's a penalty, and the Warriors start a set on halfway
56 mins YOU NEVER CATCH SHAUN JOHNSON!! Oh you beauty, Farah kicks, Lawrence tries to knock it back for a team mate, Johnson gathers it, puts the foot down, and scores easily!! He is unbelievably fast!
54 mins Farah kicks now, and Locke regathers. Warriors have a set in their own half, Hurrell takes it to halfway now, and Lillyman brings them to the 40 on the last.. Johnson grubbers, Simona gathers and the Tigers have it on halfway now
51 mins Here come the Tigers now, and Fulton breaks into the Warriors 30, Nielson drags him to the deck, and Fulton tries to offload, but throws it into touch. Warriors start a set with Vatuvei on their own 20.
49 mins Not for the first time, and not for the last I am wrong, it was a handover. So the Warriors have the pill. Now Farah is penalised for offside, so the Warriors get some good field position. Rapira takes it to the 20 on the 4th, they move it wide, Hurrell to Fisiiahi who slides into touch! So the ball is back with the Tigers on their own 10
49 mins Wow! Fulton crashes through, and crashes over, he's odds on to score, then he loses it! And Locke is the man that's knocked it out. So it'll be a knock on against Locke, but a try saver nonetheless
47 mins The ball is back with the Tigers, and now Mannering has been penalised on halfway, so a chance for the Tigers to get on the attack. They start a set 30 from the line here. England are all out for 361, Broad the final man dismissed.
45 mins A bit of a late stand in the cricket between Swann and Broad, England 361/9 now. Back in the important stuff though, and the Tigers have the ball on their own 30. Good D from the Warriors, but Marshall's kick is superb, and the Warriors start a set on their own 10.
43 mins Johnson adds the extras!!
42 mins WHAT. A. START. Leuluai kicks, it looks to be an awful one, he's absolutely shanked it! But Mannering picks it up, gives it to Hurrell and he dots down under the posts!!
41 mins Back under way! And the Warriors bring it forward now, they're on their own 20.
Halftime Marshall adds the extras! 14-6 at the break, what a try that was! Brilliant individual effort. See you shortly
39 mins Kick goes through from Farah, but it goes dead!! So here come the Warriors, just short of halfway now on the 3rd. Leuluai kicks early, very early, and the Tigers bring it back and they're on their own 30. OH MY GOODNESS WHAT A TRY! Simona goes through Hurrell's attempted tackle, he chips over Locke and regathers to score!!
37 mins Uh oh! Marshall puts it out on the full, and he wasn't in his own 22.. oh wait, too soon. Anyway! The Warriors have start a set 40 from the Tigers line. Good final chance here. Lowrie takes it up, and knocks on! Tigers let off, and they'll have a scrum on their 30. If the score remains the same at the break, the Warriors will be very happy - considering how they've played
35 mins Here come the Warriors now, 40 out, last tackle. Johnson bombs, awful kick and it's gone dead! He has absolutely wellied that one!! The Tigers start a set 20 from their own line
32 mins TRRRRYYYYY!!! Oh yes you beauty! Johnson finds Matagi, who charges through a hole, he plays it inside for Johnson who scores under the posts!! To be fair, the Origin streaker would have gone through that gap in the Tigers defence it was so big, but very nice from the Warriors. Johnson adds the extras! 8-6
31 mins Leuluai kicks, and the Tigers bring it back. Up to the 40 now on the 3rd. This game is really lacking quality and excitement I'm afraid. And a better team would be 20 odd points up. The Tigers have just thrown a ball into touch, Lawrence I think it was. So the Warriors start a new one five from halfway
29 mins Marshall stabs a kick through, Vatuvei eventually turns, and has to dive on it over the line. Line drop out!! England 9 down, Anderson is out, they're 313/9. The Tigers have it back now, and are just 12 metres out. Farah throws a bullet pass to Lawrence, he spills it though, and it'll be a Warriors scrum.
27 mins Mateo chips a dreadful kick!! Straight into Ayshford's arms and the Tigers bring it out. The Warriors were hot on attack as well. And now, guess what? Penalty! So Marshall puts it into touch, and a set is started 40 from the Warriors line.
25 mins Nielson stabs a very average kick through, and the Tigers pick it up on their own 20. 4th tackle now, and they're 15 from halfway. Locke regathers the kick and brings it to 10 shy of halfway
24 mins Another penalty! Against the Warriors, and the Tigers will go on the attack. Has there been one set that hasn't included a penalty?? Poor stuff. Wests are on the 30 now, on attack.. they go wide, and the ball's taken inside the 20. Farah loses it now! And the Wariors start a set on their own 30.
22 mins Peter Sterling just bringing up last season when the Warriors lost their last 8 in a row, yeah thanks Sterlo, pipe down now lad. Ball's back with the Warriors now, and Matagi takes it to halfway. Johnson bombs, and the Tigers start a set on their own 10.
21 mins Penalty! The Warriors are offside, and the Tigers get a chance to go on attack. They start a set now 25 out from the Warriors line.
19 mins Mateo taken 10 short, on the 4th now the Warriors, a try would be nice! Again they try and run it on the last, nothing happening, so Mateo kicks but it's poor and the Tigers have it back. They're on the 20 now, 3rd tackle. Good D from the Warriors
18 mins Johnson chips to the corner aaaaaand it misses everyone and goes dead!! No it hasn't, it's hit the boot of a Tigers player so it'll be a line dropout! Repeat set now for the visitors.
16 mins Benji misses the kick again! The Warriors now have the pill, and they're bringing it out from their own line. Taylor halfbreaks, offloads to Leuluai who brings it up near halfway! And penalty! Warriors on attack now, they start a set 30 ouot.
13 mins Tigers are close here.. and too close, they've scored again!! How good was the pass?! Terrible start from the Warriors here!
12 mins Tigers looking really exciting on attack, very dangerous. And Farah chips after an Ayshford break, all Vatuvei can do is slap it dead and it's a line dropout.. Meanwhile in the cricket, Tim Bresnan is out, England 291/8. Awful droppie from Johnson, and the Tigers start one on the 20. Great chance now, and a big test of the Warriors defence.
10 mins Awful pass!! And the Warriors pick up the ball! They bring it out now and Rapira takes it over halfway on the 4th.. good run from Friend has them inside the 40.. Johnson chips over the top, easy for the Tigers and they start a new set on their own 20
9 mins Penalty! It's against Lillyman, and the Tigers start a fresh set now, on halfway.
8 mins Nope, no upstairs, and it's a try! Benji misses the conversion, but a great early start from the Tigers.
6 mins Knock on! And here come the Tigers, they're making great metres here! Marshall cut out pass, Ayshford spreads it further and the Tigers score in the corner!! They'll go upstairs but I think this is good. Great pass from Marshall, gee the Blues could do with some passes like that..
4 mins Marshall bombs on the last, and the Warriors collect it on their 30 and start a set, Penalty! Now the Warriors start a fresh bunch on the Tigers 40, another good chance early on.
2 mins The Tigers drop it! And the Warriors have a set on the Tigers line!! What can they do here?? 10 out now on the 4th... Rapira taken a metre short! They move it wide on the last, and Vatuvei is tackle so it'll be a handover, and the Tigers start from their own line.
9:55pm 10 minutes late, but Kevin Locke has got us underway! Blair charges back, and the the Tigers start a set 10 from their own line
9:49pm League games NEVER get started on time! Still waiting for the teams to come out.. in the meantime, hot off the press, Dragons prop Michael Weyman will leave St George for Hull
9:40pm Right! All set to go now, top up your bevvies etc. Teams are about to make their way onto the Oval. I'll keep you updated on the cricket as we go as well. Are we predicting a stormer from Benji? Or will he fade out? Let me know your predictions for the match on twitter, @simonhampton9
9:29pm 15 mins to kick off now, not far to go. I'm going to throw out a cheeky prediction for this and say the Warriors will win 26-12. Not just a team, an exact scoreline too!
9:21pm Well the Warriors were comfortably beaten on the scoreboard in Perth a fortnight ago against the Rabbitohs, but they certainly weren't comfortably beaten on the field. If the play like they did then, they should beat the Tigers tonight. It's the Warriors though, who knows who will turn up?
9:14pm Kickoff is in fact not until 9:45pm in NZ, so a bit more time to fill than I thought. Just builds the excitement!! I am certainly looking forward to seeing the Beast back tonight. Lets gone Warriors!
9:07pm Plenty of first class sports action on tonight, the Tour de France heats up as we approach the night time finish in Paris on Monday morning our time. Having seen a final stage live, I'm well and truly against this night time finish. Of course, the Ashes is also on, can Aussie pull one back? The game is fairly even after the first round. And finally, the British Open, round 2 has just gotten underway at St. Andrews. But for now, it's the big one, it's the Warriors V Tigers.
9:02pm Good evening everyone! Welcome in to Leichardt Oval in Sydney for this NRL match. Plenty of chat around Benji Marshall, and it's his last game in front of his home fans tonight, how will they treat him? How does he deserve to be treated?
We will start commentary from 9pm, kickoff is at 9:30pm bringing you the weather and ground conditions. In the meantime check out the video of all the action from the Warriors last outing against the Rabbitohs.
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Teams:
Warriors: Kevin Locke, Glen Fisiiahi, Dane Nielsen, Konrad Hurrell, Manu Vatuvei, Thomas Leuluai, Shaun Johnson, Sam Rapira, Nathan Friend, Ben Matulino, Feleti Mateo, Simon Mannering (captain), Elijah Taylor. Interchange: Charlie Gubb, Jacob Lillyman, Todd Lowrie, Dominique Peyroux, Ngani Laumape, Russell Packer, Suaia Matagi.
Tigers: James Tedesco, David Nofoaluma, Blake Ayshford, Chris Lawrence, Tim Simona, Benji Marshall, Curtis Sironen, Sauaso Sue, Bodene Thompson, Liam Fulton, Adam Blair, Robbie Farah, Aaron Woods Interchange: Ava Seumanufagai, Jack Buchanan, Ben Murdoch-Masila, Braith Anasta, Shaun Spence
Pre match banter:
By David Barbeler
Head to Head: Wests Tigers 11 Warriors 10
Last clash: Round 11 2012 - Wests Tigers 24 bt Warriors 22 at Leichhardt Oval
It's been a horror week for the Tigers, with Benji Marshall's announcement he'll be leaving the club much more than just an unwelcome distraction. Despite just a two day Origin turnaround, the Tigers still expect to have captain Robbie Farah and Aaron Woods backing up, while the Warriors see the return of rampaging winger Manu Vatuvei for Ngani Laumapge. The Warriors have shown great form of late, a noble loss to the table-topping Rabbitohs in round 17 ending a five game winning streak.
Key: All eyes will be on mercurial playmaker Benji Marshall. Will he be able to bounce back from a poor season and how will he react to a possibly unreceptive home crowd?
Tip: Warriors
NZN
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