{"id":396099,"date":"2024-05-22T01:56:49","date_gmt":"2024-05-22T01:56:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=396099"},"modified":"2024-05-22T06:07:25","modified_gmt":"2024-05-22T06:07:25","slug":"i-got-a-little-spray-coach-burned-before-absurd-upset","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=396099","title":{"rendered":"'I got a little spray': Coach burned before absurd upset"},"content":{"rendered":"

T\ufeffaine Tuaupiki was the man of the moment for the Warriors<\/a> at Magic Round – but his match-winning performance almost didn't happen.<\/p>\n

In one of the club's best victories in recent memory, the young fullback scored the final try and nailed a sideline conversion to upset reigning premiers Penrith 22-20 on Sunday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Despite missing a host of key names including Shaun Johnson<\/a> and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck<\/a>, the struggling Warriors dug deep to topple the Panthers in a win that could set up their season and push them back towards the top-eight.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'He hasn't yet learnt': Mundine's plea to Latrell<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Teen AFL superstar's heartbreaking homesick admission<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Bennett keen to bring Burgess back to Bunnies<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Tuaupiki starred with ball in hand – despite a horror start that saw him kick the ball dead on the full from the opening play of the game – \ufeffto help get the Warriors over the line.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

However, there was a genuine chance of Tuaupiki missing the clash as his partner is due to give birth – leading to a dressing down from head coach Andrew Webster.<\/p>\n

"My missus' due date is on Friday and honestly, it was any minute now," he said.<\/p>\n

"I got a little spray from Webby because although I told him a couple of weeks ago, I didn't remind him – he gave me a little spray for not being clear with him.<\/p>\n

"She is a trooper and she has been so strong – she could have easily said 'No, you're not going' \u2026 I really appreciate her this past month."<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 NRL premiership live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The 24-year-old, who was filling in given the absence of Tuivasa-Sheck and Johnson, which forced Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad into the halves, has been chipping away in the NSW Cup competition this year, scoring two tries in five games in reserve grade.<\/p>\n

Tuaupiki even slotted a match-winning conversion in similar fashion a number of weeks ago, but conceded his task in front of a packed Suncorp Stadium was a different beast.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"I take every single kick as it is – that kick [in NSW Cup] was right next to the posts and this one was right on the sideline," he said.<\/p>\n

"Honestly, if I don't score that try at the end, you probably don't even realise I'm out there. I think it was complete as in the team – we were missing stars like Tohu, Capewell, Roger, Johnson \u2026 we knew we needed it to be a complete performance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"It was pretty surreal – I got into the zone. I knew if I stared at the clock, I would have hyped myself up too much. I tried to stay present … it was cool to have that moment."<\/p>\n

Tuaupiki has again been selected in the No.1 jumper for the side's clash with the Dolphins in round 12 and credited the influence of Tuivasa-Sheck and Nicoll-Klokstad for helping him find his feet in the NRL.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"The biggest thing I take from both of them is discipline," he said.<\/p>\n

"I'm a different kind of fullback to both of them – they are very tough and very strong, I'm obviously a smaller body. I like to add in my own different flavour with my feet and try to bring a little bit more speed around the ruck.<\/p>\n

"Having both Rog and Charnze there, probably my defence [has improved] and that's all discipline. Webby picks me for that and I'm happy to do him proud and the boys proud."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

T\ufeffaine Tuaupiki was the man of the moment for the Warriors at Magic Round – but his match-winning performance almost didn't happen. In one of […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":396101,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396099"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=396099"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":396104,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396099\/revisions\/396104"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/396101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=396099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=396099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=396099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}