The New Zealand Warriors continued their late season surge to an NRL finals berth with a comprehensive 28-16 win over a suddenly slumping Wests Tigers side at Campbelltown Stadium on Sunday.
The Warriors joined three other sides on 20 competition points after running in five tries to four, the victory soured by the late sending off of fullback Wade McKinnon a minute before fulltime for kneeing Taniela Tuiaki.
A stunned McKinnon shook his head as he made his way up the tunnel, replays suggesting he had good reason to feel aggrieved with the contact looking innocuous.
The incident came two minutes after McKinnon had been involved in a fight with Chris Heighington, capping a dramatic finish to the game with the Tigers scoring two consolation tries to Chris Lawrence and Tuiaki to add respectability to the scoreboard.
The Warriors went a long way to securing their fifth win in six matches when they responded to an an early salvo from the Tigers with four tries in the space of 16 minutes to open up a 22-4 lead.
It was an onslaught which came without warning after the home side had gained the upper hand in the opening 20 minutes - their dominance capped by a super Dean Collis try off the back of a neat Robbie Farah grubber.
Grant Rovelli and George Gatis then combined to wipe out the Tigers' advantage in the blink of an eye with some nice work by Gatis out of dummy half seeing his halfback cross twice in as many minutes.
The first came with a switch play close to the line and then two tackles after the restart Gatis sprinted past three bemused Tigers markers before drawing the fullback and setting up Rovelli for a 12-4 lead.
The home side was rattled as the Warriors looked to go in for the kill - the shift in momentum highlighted by a monster Epalahame Lauaki hit which left Ben Galea seeing stars.
The confident Warriors started throwing he ball about in a fashion more reminiscent of New Zealand sides of years gone by, their risk taking rewarded when Jerome Ropati snuck over just inside the corner post.
Wests Tigers went close to a reply after receiving their first penalty of the game after 36 minutes, but instead it was the Warriors who got on the board again before the break with Wairangi Koopu slam dunking the ball over the line following a Michael Crockett chip and chase down the right touchline.
The Tigers opened the second period in more flamboyant style, but after closing the gap through a Heighington try were again down by over three converted tries when Micheal Luck ran into a huge hole off a McKinnon short ball.
