Returning Warriors winger Manu Vatuvei is relieved to have released the nerves in last night’s 26-18 win over the Broncos at Mount Smart Stadium.
The ‘beast’ played his first game for the club in over a month having been stood down for a week for his role in the sleeping pill/energy drink saga, and then subsequently requesting a leave of absence from the team for personal reasons.
Vatuvei just wanted to get his hands on the ball as soon as possible last night to help calm the nerves.
“Once I got my first carry out of the way, everything went up after that,” he said.
“Felt really good being back with the boys, good to get the first game out of the way, just have to back it up next week.”
Despite going try-less in the seven tries to three win, Vatuvei played a significant role in getting the Warriors moving forward with his trademark runs from inside his team's red-zone.
Vatuvei said the team really benefited from a great week on the training field and that confidence has returned to the camp.
“I got a lot of confidence through the feeling of the boys, just through the way we trained, and I think it showed in the way we played just how much we have been working.”
The veteran winger believes it’s important for the Warriors to keep having fun and the rest will take care of itself.
“We just have to enjoy what’s in front of us, whenever anything bad happens we just have to back it up with our defence.”
“It wasn’t a perfect game, there were a lot of mistakes in that performance, but we just bounced back and moved on.”
Vatuvei also commented on the questions from outside the club that some of the players have been lacking in commitment.
“It’s always been there, it was just a lack of confidence. When things went wrong everyone went onto their shell.”
“Tonight we showed what we can do, we just have to be more consistent and back it up next week.”
The Warriors next travel to Newcastle to take on the Knights on Saturday night.
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