Dragons prove too tough as Warriors go down without a fight.
The New Zealand Warriors’ NRL season is over after they went down to the St George Illawarra Dragons 19-10 at WIN Stadium.
While the Dragons have been out of the running for the post-season of the season they gave their long-suffering fans something to cheer about in what was also their final game of the season.
The door was left ajar for a possible Warriors comeback with the away side trailing by just 14-10.
But a field goal to rising star Josh Drinkwater in the 73rd minute was then coupled with a last-gasp try to Charly Runciman.
It was a disappointing way for the Warriors to end their season after showing signs of life in the past two months to climb off the canvas and play the kind of football that could have caused problems for others in the finals.
But when they needed it the most their discipline with the ball in hand deserted them as they failed to complete 14 sets of six.
New Zealand opened the scoring for the match in the 16th minute when Elijah Taylor benefited from a cross-field kick.
The Dragons grabbed the lead as Adam Quinlan scored his fifth try for the season as the home side led by 6-4 at half-time.
Nathan Green helped extend the margin for the Dragons in the 43rd minute to make the margin six before Manu Vatuvei bagged his 16th try for the year to see the scores all locked up at 10.
But the last field goal and try for St George Illawarra Dragons gave them some hope of a better season in 2014.
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