Warriors coach Stephen Kearney put his side's dramatic 14-13 late win over the Roosters on Sunday night to their defensive effort.
It looked like being the Warriors' third straight defeat when Mitchell Pearce put the Roosters up 13-12 with five minutes to go at Mt Smart Stadium, but from the last attack of the game, the Roosters were caught offside 20m from their line and Shaun Johnson stepped up to kick the winning penalty.
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Warriors and Roosters go down to wire
An immense defensive effort from the Warriors gave Shaun Johnson the chance to convert a last minute penalty for victory.
That kick will get the headlines, but it was the superb backs-to-the-wall defence from the Warriors for most of the second half which was so crucial, as the Roosters had chance after chance to score tries, but were held out.
"I didn't think the second half we were particularly smart, but sometimes it's a bit like that,"Â Kearney said.
"The opposition are a quality outfit who have had the majority of their group together for quite some time. In games like that they know what to do and they certainly turned the screws on us and put us under some real pressure.
"But we just found a way to stay in there and with a couple of minutes to go things went our way.
"I was really pleased with the effort and resilience to be able to do that."
James Gavet and David Fusitu'a scored the opening tries to the Warriors while a try from Joseph Manu was all the Roosters could show for their first half effort as they trailed 12-4 at the break.
As the pressure went on the Warriors in the second half, this did look like being another game where they struggle and get overtaken in the second half, but not so.
"Tonight we found a way to win with our defence," Kearney said.Â
"There were a couple of times they had line breaks and Roger [Tuivasa-Sheck]Â made tackle there on our tryline. On the right corner a number of times the ball got to Daniel [Tupou]Â or Shaun [Kenny-Dowall], but we had numbers there."
With time running out, the Warriors had one set left before they would have turned possession over to the Roosters and allow them to run down the clock.
Rarely do referees give penalty decisions at big moments at the end of games, but Ashley Klein made the call that changed the game and possibly turned the Warriors season around.
"I didn't think we handled the set real well to be honest," Kearney said.Â
"We were going from one side to the other, passing the ball amongst the spine, trying to look for something, but sometimes it's a bit like that."
Roosters coach Trent Robinson didn't have any issues with the offside call against his side in the 78th minute, but did feel Daniel Tupou's sin binning for a professional foul to stop Johnson playing the ball at the end of the first half was harsh.
David Fusitu'a scored for the Warriors soon after, so it turned out to be a pivotal moment in a tight game.
"Personally I don't [think it was fair], there were quite a few players behind the ball ready to play, it wasn't a chase down from behind.
"Going down to 12 men, we still should have defended that, it should have been a play that we finished off defensively, we worked hard in that set to defend them and we should have finished it off.
"But we didn't. They'll say technically it was a send off, but the holding down, there was enough there not to say it was a breakaway and held down like a typical one."
The result leaves the Warriors just two points outside the top eight going into next weekend's rep round and Tuivasa-Sheck said it's pleasing that after two good performances in the last two weeks, they finally get points from how they're playing.
"It's real pleasing," he said.Â
"We've been building really well, just needed the rewards at the end of the day.
"It's a good feeling to get the two points for the team to show that we're going the right way."