Warriors coaches relieved call for penalty goal didn't reach players

  • 25/03/2018
Luke scored a try just three minutes left.
Luke scored a try just three minutes left. Photo credit: Getty

Warriors hooker Issac Luke's game changing try against the Canberra Raiders almost never happened.

Before Shaun Johnson's field goal heroics, Isaac Luke scored a try with just three minutes remaining to give New Zealand a chance of pulling off the unlikely victory.

Down by seven points, theWarriors were awarded a penalty right in front of the posts for what would have been an easy two points.

Instead, the players took it upon themselves to go for the try before Luke dived over from dummy half.

Speaking to Andrew Gourdie and Jim Kayes on RadioLIVE, Warriors assistant Tony Iro admits the coaching staff wanted them to have a shot at goal, but couldn't get the call down to the field in time.

"We got that penalty at about the three-minute mark," he said.

"We were going 'take the two and try and get us within a converted try', but the boys were too good for us and they backed themselves.

"Six is better than two and I think from there, obviously, we just had to get ourselves into position."

Listen to Andrew Gourdie and Jim Kayes on RadioLIVE every Sunday.
Listen to Andrew Gourdie and Jim Kayes on RadioLIVE every Sunday. Photo credit: Newshub

Iro was incredibly impressed with the level of calmness the players demonstrated and was confident in their ability to come back and get the result.

"What I really liked was the composure in the last three minutes to get themselves into position and then nail it," he said.

"I always thought we had a chance. There were just a couple of signs there that if we kept on firing some bullets, that eventually that'd be able to break through.

"Credit to the boys in terms of just sticking at it, we had a lot go against us during the day, both in terms of just the play and obviously had a pretty horrendous penalty count at the start of the game.

"There are some really quality boys there that have come on board, that have been in systems where they expect to win and that's rubbed off on the players in the pre-season."

Newshub.