Warriors 8 Storm 6

The resurgent New Zealand Warriors shocked Melbourne in appalling conditions in Auckland yesterday to continue their late charge to the finals.

A 40-metre penalty goal from Lance Hohaia with eight minutes remaining earned the Warriors a 8-6 victory at Mount Smart Stadium to stretch their winning streak to four.

Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy was generous in defeat, saying the defending premiers fell to a much better side in the wet and wild weather. The Warriors had thoroughly deserved their win and it would have an injustice had the Storm been able to snatch the points during a frenetic finish.

"They were too good for us today," he said. "They out-enthused us, out-worked us, out-everythinged us."

Hohaia was always confident of landing the pressure-packed goal at the sodden stadium. "It was almost straight in front, so I just wanted to give it a good strike and hope the wind would carry it most of the way," he said. "I was pretty happy."

But the Kiwis utility said he had never faced such a pressure kick before.

"I just tried to block everything out and go through my routine. The conditions were shocking for kicking, but you stick with what you practise.

"Melbourne are a pretty big scalp for us, with all their Origin players. It should be a good confidence booster for us."

Hohaia was also a hero in the last few minutes as the Warriors held out a desperate Storm.

"Everybody showed just how much we wanted to win. We train in these conditions and it was a great performance all round," he said.

Warriors captain Steve Price said while it was a great win in tough conditions, he cautioned his team against getting over-confident in coming weeks.

"Now the focus is on South Sydney, in Sydney, [next week]," he said.

With controversy still raging after a week of criticism of Melbourne's on-field tactics, the Storm were put under pressure from a resolute Warriors defence and turned the ball over regularly in the slippery conditions.

Rain pounded down and the game was played under lights on a ground drenched by two days of wet weather, causing problems for both teams.

Bellamy conceded his team had paid the price for not handling the conditions as well as the Warriors. "We didn't make a lot of errors playing fancy footy," he said. "It was just sort of dropping it in the play-the-ball or one off the ruck, or stuff like that."

Bellamy noted his team had lost only three games all year at close to full strength, and he expected a better performance next week. "We will forgive them for this one," he said.

Playing into the strong wind in front of a crowd of about 9000, the Warriors drew first blood with a tough try to centre Sonny Fai, who scored after a pass from halfback Grant Rovelli after 10 minutes.

They were unlucky not to increase their lead after Ian Henderson got the ball across the line three minutes before half-time, only to have his effort ruled a no-try because of interference.

The Storm, missing suspended fullback Billy Slater, put in a valiant effort in defence as the Warriors pushed forward time and again in a bid to improve their 4-0 lead.

In the second half, both teams continued to slog it out as the south-westerly gusted.

The Storm hit back 12 minutes into the second half with a try to interchange forward Sika Manu, who pushed his way through two Warriors defenders to tie the scores with a converted try.

But a penalty against Storm second-rower Michael Crocker for not standing square at marker allowed Hohaia to clinch victory.

AAP and Fairfax Media, NZ