New Zealand Warriors have been beaten by a heavily depleted Brisbane Broncos side 26-22 in a match that was repeatedly interrupted by pitch invasions at McLean Park in Napier.
There were farcical scenes in the closing stages with the game paused three times in quick succession, as people from the crowd ran onto the pitch causing extended delays which Tohu Harris criticised post-match.
Pitch invasions mar Warriors and Broncos clash at McLean Park"It gets really annoying, especially when we’re trying to get ourselves back into the game," New Zealand’s skipper said.
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"It burns just knowing the other team gets a rest, to be honest. We wanted to keep going at them and try to build pressure, so it’s not ideal.
"It’s something we can’t control. So, we just have to make sure we’re ready to go once play starts again."
Brisbane appeared to be cruising to a win until the Warriors piled on two tries in three minutes before a terrible play from Adam Pompey cost his side a match-levelling four-pointer after he unnecessarily grabbed at a Brisbane player in the lead-up to a Marcelo Montota score.
"It was a fabulous game, but the interruptions weren’t great," Kevin Walters said after his side eventually held off the late onslaught to record a nail-biting win without five of their Origin stars.
"We sort of lost the flow of the game,” Adam Reynolds said when reflecting on the pitch invasions.
"Both sides felt like that, but I think they probably responded to it a bit better, and we were probably still stuck in the moment."
One streaker can be a bit funny... but this is getting a bit ridiculous. #NRLWarriorsBroncos
— LeagueUnlimited.com (@LeagueUnlimited) May 27, 2023"It might be a little while before we return back to these parts as the locals are doing themselves no favours," Warren Smith said on Fox League as a third pitch invader stopped play.
Security at the Warriors game.#NRLWarriorsBroncos pic.twitter.com/tpIgLMmVDA
— Sportsbet.com.au (@sportsbetcomau) May 27, 2023It isn’t the first time there has been issues in New Zealand with fans rushing onto the pitch.
During the Warriors' opening game of the season against Newcastle in March, there were 13 separate incidents that left two security guards injured.
"As much as the next person, I'm convinced it's the Warriors' year, and I don't think anyone wants to be turning up to sporting events with big cages surrounding the field," Red Badge Group CEO Ben Wooding said.
"We see in other places around the world where there are big cages, or there are security guards standing shoulder to shoulder and I don't think that's the direction we want to go.
"I think our staff have got the right to be safe, they turn up to work and we're putting these events on alongside the stadiums, and we're focused on the safety of fans, players and I think we should be thinking about our staff as well who are in the firing line."
Wooding warned that the country wouldn’t be far off introducing additional measures to counteract the issue if it continued.
"That's not where we want to go in New Zealand, but we're one incident away from probably the changing face of sport in New Zealand," he declared.
Wooding’s comments were echoed by Sky Stadium chief executive Shane Harmon, who also predicted that New Zealand was on the precipice of having to alter security procedures at sporting events, if people kept entering the field of play and causing disruptions.
"We need to act before there is an incident which changes the sport in New Zealand forever," he said.
