Key events
7th minute: Canberra Raiders 6 – 0 New Zealand Warriors. The big bopper Big Papa gets us started again as Josh Papalii hammers into the traffic. But we have a play the ball error in the next tackle and we’ll have a changeover. Warriors on the attack 20m out.
TRY! Canberra Raiders 6-0 New Zealand Warriors
Try to Sebastian Kris who has reached out and scraped the paint! That came from fast offloads from Corey Horsburgh who looks fit and fast and up for the battle today. This game has been played at warp speed and Canberra have first blood through Kris in his 86th game in the NRL. Jamal Fogarty converts to make it 6-zip.
3rd minute: Canberra Raiders 0 – 0 New Zealand Warriors. Fast start by both sides and a a very short 10-metres being played by the ref as the players get into each other’s faces with fast starts off the line. Warriors star James Fisher-Harris gets lucky with his first play, raking the ball out but not being penalised.
Canberra coach Ricky Stuart has taken inspiration from the poker tables at his hotel and reshuffled his pack for today’s game against the Warriors. Josh Papalii will start, and Morgan Smithies revert to the bench. Smart move to unleash big Papa from the get-go. Vegas won’t know what hit it…
Ethan Strange and Jamal Fogarty will run the side from the halves. Corey Horsburgh and Joseph Tapine will bring muscle up the middle. There are a couple of fresh faces in the lime green line-up. Owen Pattie will debut from the bench and Savelio Tamale plays his second NRL game on the wing.
For the Warriors, coach Matt Webster has also made some late changes. Co-captain Mitch Barnett will now start at lock, Jackson Ford is promoted from the interchange to start in the front row and Erin Clark reverts to the bench.
The Warriors will be spearheaded by new recruit James Fisher-Harris and playmaker Chanel Harris-Tavita calls the plays from five-eighth, with half Luke Metcalf riding shiotgun. Taine Tuaupiki replaces Dallin Watene-Zelezniak on the wing.
Here come the players onto Allegiant Stadium. Warriors will kick off… here we go!
Here’s how the teams line-up in the Raiders v Warriors showdown.
Canberra Raiders: 1. Kaeo Weekes 2. Savelio Tamale 3. Matthew Timoko 4. Sebastian Kris 5. Xavier Savage 6. Ethan Strange 7. Jamal Fogarty 8. Corey Horsburgh 9. Tom Starling 10. Joseph Tapine 11. Hudson Young 12. Zac Hosking 13. Morgan Smithies 14. Owen Pattie 15. Simi Sasagi 16. Josh Papali’i 17. Ata Mariota 18. Danny Levi 19. Trey Mooney 20. Ethan Sanders 21. Chevy Stewart 22. Jed Stuart
New Zealand Warriors: 1. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad 2. Taine Tuaupiki 3. Ali Leiataua 4. Adam Pompey 5. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck 6. Chanel Harris-Tavita 7. Luke Metcalf 8. James Fisher-Harris 9. Wayde Egan 10. Mitchell Barnett 11. Kurt Capewell 12. Marata Niukore 13. Erin Clark 14. Dylan Walker 15. Jackson Ford 16. Demitric Vaimauga 17. Leka Halasima 18. Samuel Healey 20. Te Maire Martin 21. Eddie Ieremia 22. Bunty Afoa 23. Edward Kosi
It’s full time in phase one of rugby league’s Operation Vegas.
Wigan Warriors 48 – 24 Warrington Wolves
Next, Raiders v Warriors coming up in 20 minutes.
From 42-zip, Warrington have scored three quick tries to restore some respect to the scoreline. Teen tearaway Arron Lindop started the fightback by chasing a George Williams grubber home. Then Ben Currie caught a bomb and shovelled a one-handed pass to James Harrison for a try. Finally, Matt Dufty, former NRL star for the Dragons and Bulldogs, made a 25-metre run to score. Josh Thewlis’s conversion makes it 42-18.
Although the Wolves are rallying, Wigan’s first hour was a masterclass…
Regardless of the blow-out scoreline in the Warriors-Wolves game, the match was widely branded as the “biggest game in British rugby league.”
Aaron Bower’s story illuminates how “rare it is for Super League and the NRL to work hand in hand like this, but there is a shared goal of collectively cracking the US sports market and exposing rugby league to the masses worldwide.”
Las Vegas is a town where the numbers fall and for Sam Burgess’s boys they are falling hard. Currently the scoreline sits at Wigan Warriors 42 – 0 Warrington Wolves.
Those numbers will leave Big Sum with a serious hangover…
Will US President Donald Trump attend today’s festival of the boot?
The fact the NRL even invited him has caused no end of drama with one anti-domestic violence charity severing ties with the league over what it called a “tone deaf” offer.
“White Ribbon penned a letter to the NRL this week that ended a partnership dating back to 2008, citing the league’s decision to associate with “well-known perpetrators of abuse and violence against women”.
Here’s how Martin Pegan previewed the NRL’s return to Vegas…
“Now that the league has arrived at its destination, there are more fans in town, more events on the ground, and teams from more countries putting the finishing touches on their own show. Twice as many matches as last year are still to come when all the off-field glitz and glamour are put to one side and the quadruple-header finally kicks off at Allegiant Stadium on Sunday”
Preamble
Angus Fontaine
Greetings sports fans! Welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the extravaganza that is Rugby League in Las Vegas 2.0. Angus Fontaine here on the keys and what a day of action we have for you today.
Currently under way on Allegiant Stadium is the clash between Super League giants Wigan and Warrington. Wolves coach and Rabbitohs great Sam Burgess made it onto his flight with four minutes to spare but at halftime, his boys were still grounded at 0-24.
First up, we’ve got the NRL season opener between the Canberra Raiders and New Zealand Warriors at 4:00pm PST / 11:00am AEDT. Raiders coach ‘Sticky’ Ricky Stuart has already been hailed as the game’s “ultimate trash talker” by the US media and I’m not game to disagree.
Next, for their first meeting since the 2017 World Cup, Australia take on England in a women’s international. That match kicks off at 6:15pm PST / 1:15pm AEDT and Megan Maurice will be on the tools with a live call eight years in the making
Finally, it will be four-time defending NRL champions the Penrith Panthers duking it out with the Cronulla Sharks at 8:30pm PST / 3:30pm AEDT. Can Ivan Cleary’s mountain men reign supreme again in 2025 despite losing a galaxy of stars to rivals? Or will the Sharks, with new marquee signing Addin Fonua-Blake, pop their bubble?
Eight mighty teams. Four fierce games. One crazy day. Here we go…
