Warriors over Slayers 44-12

2009-06-15

A hot and humid day was on hand in Washington D.C as the Warriors headed to the nations capital to take on the D.C Slayers. Not only did they face a Slayers side that had already a game under their belt but also a tough 7 hour road trip down from New Haven.

The Warriors got out to a flying first quarter, player coach Roy Leoni opened the scoring, which was then followed by Derrick Roma finishing off a Jay Giroux line break and then a blockbusting solo effort from captain Siose Muliumu.

The second quarter was to be some what of a disappointment for the Warriors as ill discipline in the form of silly penalties and poor ball control crept in and the final straw was a sin binning to second rower James Brakewood.

The Warriors would finally go into the break with a narrow 14-4 lead.

After receiving a few motivating words from Leoni and Muliumu the Warriors came out with an extra spring in their step knowing where they had to improve. It didn’t take long before the Warriors increased the lead when debutant Ihaka Waerea crossed the line for a double after finding holes around the ruck area. Two more tries to Muliumu and one to Roma would see the result finish at 44-12 to the Warriors.

For the Slayers Tonga Fanuelli and Phil Hill were the two scorers.

Warriors coach Roy Leoni was happy with the way the team played, but knows there’s room for improvement.

“I was proud of the way the boys went; coming down to D.C is no easy trip. We were a little unlucky not to have a couple more tries on the score board. Winger Ed Reed had two tries disallowed and we bombed a couple with the line wide open. We will work on those things at training this week in preparation for Boston.”

Not one of the Warriors players could be faulted for their performance, but one player to stand out was rookie fullback Anthony Sunia, who was also named Man of the Match. Sunia was devastating when returning the ball and would often beat the first defender.

New Haven Warriors 44 (Siose Muliumu 3, Ihaka Waerea 2, Derrick Roma 2, Roy Leoni tries; Derrick Roma 6 from 8 conversions) D.C Slayers 12

The Warriors this week take on the Boston 13’s at home in New Haven.