NSW Cup Match Report: Key win

Centre Moala Graham-Taufa started and iced a terrific second half comeback to earn the NZ Warriors a gritty 18-16 win in their round one New South Wales Cup encounter with Canberra at Leichhardt Oval in Sydney on Saturday.

The Warriors were scratchy in the first half but minimised the damage as they scrambled well to keep the Raiders to a 10-0 advantage to the break.

Then in the second 40 minutes they switched it up, gaining more cohesion in their attack the further the contest went and matching it with resilience and aggression in defence.

Their effort was rewarded in the 49th minute as they mounted pressure on Canberra's line, working left on the last tackle with halfback Tanah Boyd - in his first match in Warriors colors - threading through a delicate right-footed grubber for Taufa-Graham to race onto to score.

With Boyd's conversion the Warriors were right in the battle just 6-10 behind.

A penalty on halfway with eight minutes to go proved to be the turning point.