The Warriors have risen to second on the NRL ladder after holding on for a tight 36-30 victory over South Sydney at Accor Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

New Zealand led by as much as 18 points in the second half but two more tries for Alex Johnston to complete his hat-trick as well as a Latrell Mitchell four-pointer had Wayne Bennett’s side within touching distance but the visitors proved too good in the end.

It was a special afternoon at Sydney Olympic Park with Johnston crossing for his 200th try, now just 12 short of Ken Irvine for the all-time highest try scorer in top-grade rugby league history.

It was not all good news for the Warriors as NSW Blues prop Mitch Barnett hobbled off in the first half with a lower leg injury. Barnett is set to undergo scans, potentially putting his availability for State of Origin game two on June 18 in Perth in doubt.

Continuing his impressive breakout season as the club’s main playmaker, Luke Metcalf had another strong performance, crossing the line after running 80 metres and leads his side’s try scoring with eight tries already in 2025. The Warriors No.7 also added an assist on Dallin Watene-Zelezniak’s first try of the season and his kicking game continually caused problems for the Souths defence.

After leading by just two points at half-time, Andrew Webster’s team flew out of the blocks to extend their lead to three converted tries but Souths were able to wrestle back momentum. With five minutes to go Mitchell converted his own try to reduce the deficit to just six points and set up a grandstand finish, but the NSW star could not properly execute a chip kick in the dying stages as the Rabbitohs fell just short of a win that would have seen them rise to sixth, leaving them with a 6-6 record.