The One New Zealand Warriors fell short in their bid for a comeback win in their 10th-round Jersey Flegg Cup (under-21) encounter with the Sydney Roosters at North Harbour Stadium on Sunday.
Seeking to extend their unbeaten run to four matches, the Warriors came back from 12-22 down at halftime to twice push for a late winning chance.
A Ben Peni try in the first minute of the second half hauled the home side right back into the contest trailing just 18-22.
Then the Roosters went out to 28-18 lead with their fifth try before prop Toby Crosby powered over for his second four pointer to leave the Warriors just six points adrift 22-28 with 11 minutes to play.
There wasn’t to be a third strike back, though, with the Roosters going over late to take out a 34-22 victory.
Earlier the Roosters had raced to a 16-0 lead inside the first 15 minutes of the match before the One New Zealand Warriors rallied with tries to Presley Seumanu and Crosby to trail 12-16.
