New Zealand Warriors earned their first victory at Eden Park, with a convincing 54-12 victory over Canberra Raiders, who have conceded over 50 points in successive games.
Warriors’ halfback Shaun Johnson scored 26 points, converting all nine Warriors’ tries and scoring two himself.
After their victory in Melbourne in their last game, it was another good result for the Warriors, who had lost in their five previous appearances at Eden Park.
They with early tries to Ben Matulino, Konrad Hurrell and Johnson.
The Raiders hit back with the first of Jarrod Croker’s two tries, but quickly replied with a try by winger Ngani Laumape.
And in the second half they scored further tries through Johnson, Sam Tomkins, Manu Vatuvei twice and Jason Bukuya, with Croker getting a late try for the Raiders.
In the second half Salford-bound Kevin Locke came off the bench for his first NRL appearance of the season after returning from a knee injury.
Centre Dylan Walker scored four tries for South Sydney Rabbitohs as they hammered Gold Coast Titans 40-18 in Queensland.
The Rabbitohs started brilliantly, going 70 metres to score on their first tackle, Walker linking with Kirisome Auva’a to score the opener after less than 90 seconds.
Auva’a then scored one himself and tries to Walker and Alex Johnston made the scoreline 22-0.
The Titans finally replied when Anthony Don intercepted a John Sutton pass to run 60 metres for a 25th minute try, and he struck again just before half-time to reduce the deficit to 22-12.
But they never got a look-in in the second half.
At AAMI Park Melbourne Storm won another thriller against Manly, edging home 22-19 with a late converted try.
In a tightly fought first half with, only one try for each side, Peta Hiku opened the score for Manly with a try controversially awarded by the video referee, before Billy Slater touched down for the Storm after good work by Ryan Hoffman.
Manly stand-off Jack Littlejohn gave his side a one-point lead with a field-goal just before the interval.
The Storm started strongly in the second half, and took the lead with a second try by Slater, this time converted by Cameron Smith.
But Manly hit back through Brett Stewart to leave the Storm one point ahead. And they took the lead when Jorge Taufua touched down, with Steve Matai converting for the first time.
They made it a 9-point lead when Jamie Buhrer touched down, but the Storm responded through Cooper Cronk, and Smith’s conversion made the score 16-19 after 70 minutes.
And they took the lead with a remarkable try five minutes from the end from debutant Kurt Mann, who sped onto a cross-field kick to touch down brilliantly, with Smith’s conversion making it 22-19 and another narrow win for the Storm.
More coverage of all this weekend’s NRL matches will feature in this Monday’s issue of Rugby League Express.
