Houston impressive in return from wilderness
Sun Herald
Sunday February 6, 2011
Warriors 22 Newcastle 22 CHRIS HOUSTON scored a try in his return from NRL exile, before Newcastle crossed again in the dying moments to draw 22-22 with the Warriors in a trial match last night.The teams played for the Solidarity Cup in the New Zealand town of Greymouth, which was floored by the tragic death of 29 miners late last year.The Warriors looked on course for victory until rookie Knights outside back Simon Williams scored in the corner. Peter Mata'utia had a chance to clinch the result for the Knights but missed the conversion.All eyes were on Houston though, as he played his first match since a drug investigation forced him to quit the Knights and sit out the 2010 season. Houston was cleared of all drug supply charges and was welcomed back to the Knights during the off-season.The big second-rower had a mixed night, but showed great strength to barge over the line from close range and cut the Warriors' second-half lead to 10 points."Chris was good," coach Rick Stone said. "He came up with a couple of errors but overall he played about 50 minutes, he was strong, scored a try, defended pretty well and carried the ball pretty well I thought."Shannon McDonnell put his case forward for fullback selection, while Mata'utia also impressed. Stone also praised young front-rower Joel Edwards, who scored a try.Warriors utility Joel Moon was impressive and had a hand in the most exciting try, which broke a 0-0 deadlock on the stroke of half-time.Later, Anthony Cherrington made an impressive return from a knee reconstruction in the Sydney Roosters' 22-12 trial win over the Ipswich Jets. Anthony Minichiello, Daniel Conn, Mose Masoe and Joseph Leilua were the only players from the grand final side beaten by St George Illawarra to turn out against the Queensland Cup team.with AAP
© 2011 Sun Herald
