The Warriors win opener against Eels

The New Zealand Warriors opened their 2009 NRL season in style on Saturday night
with a convincing 26-18 victory over Parramatta in Auckland.
Dedicating the match to former teammate Sonny Fai, who drowned at an Auckland Beach
in January, the Warriors ran in four tries to three to notch a club-record seventh
straight home triumph.
The victory was also a fitting result for veteran captain Steve Price, who was
playing his 300th premiership match.
The Warriors dominated from the outset in front of a 17,447-strong crowd at Mt Smart
Stadium, with debutant five-eighth Joel Moon, a former Brisbane player, scoring the
opening try in the ninth minute.
Shortly after, Russell Packer planted a second try under the posts.
Parramatta winger Eric Grothe - making his 100th appearance for the Eels - found a
gap in the Warriors defence to finally get his side on the board in the 24th minute.
But the Kiwis quickly responded with Lance Hohaia touching down after a nice pass
from World Cup star Nathan Fien.
Both teams won all three of their trial matches but the Warriors were heavily
favoured to beat Parramatta and looked good things when Hohaia crossed again just
three minutes into the second half.
The Eels staged a comeback, with five-eighth Jarryd Hayne benefiting from a fumble
by Wade McKinnon and touching down in the 51st minute before Krisnan Inu narrowed
the Warriors' lead to eight points soon after.
But the Warriors held on, despite losing lock Micheal Luck to a high tackle from
Fuifui Moimoi four minutes from fulltime.