Warriors account for depleted Dogs

A scintillating first-half onslaught from New Zealand has set up its 40-22 win against a Sonny Bill Williams-less Canterbury at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night.

Williams was a late withdrawal due to injury and his creativity and direction was clearly missed in attack.

But it was the Swiss cheese-like defence of the Dogs in the first half that was to blame for a loss that extinguished their faint finals hopes.

The Warriors strolled through holes in the home team's cover at will to pile on 30 points in the first half on their way to an important eighth win of 2008 in front of 12,973 fans.

The Dogs bit back after the break to add some respectability to the scoreboard but didn't have the firepower or poise to pull off a stunning come-from-behind triumph.

Malo Solomona recorded a hat trick for the Warriors while Canterbury warhorse Hazem El Masri scored two tries and three conversions to creep 14 points closer to Andrew Johns' all-time point-scoring record.

New Zealand enjoyed a dream start when it crossed in just the second minute on a cool night in Sydney.

Sonny Fai scored his third try in as many starts when he touched down on his side's second set of six.

The visitors made good yardage on their opening possession and crossed on the back of a six-to-go decision just 20m from the Bulldogs line.

The Warriors had 81 percent of the ball in the opening 10 minutes and translated that advantage into a second try when pocket rocket Lance Hohaia wandered through some horrible resistance to score and record the conversion.

Two minutes later, a smart cross-field kick from Grant Rovelli to an open Aidan Kirk on the left allowed the winger to swell the buffer to 16.

Disgraceful defence from the Dogs saw 11 missed tackles in the first quarter of an hour as the visitors opened up what proved to be a match-winning advantage.

Solomona waltzed over and registered the first try of his career on the back of some slick work from Hohaia.

The No.1 was unable to land the conversion from out wide but at 20-0 it mattered little.

The home team enjoyed a change of fortune 32 minutes into the free-flowing encounter when El Masri latched onto a loose ball off the post.

Daniel Holdsworth tumbled a kick towards the end-goal area and a sliding El Masri edged Simon Mannering in a race to the ricocheted ball to open Canterbury's account.

The 'revival' lasted just moments before some more pitiful protection at the other end allowed Mannering to brush aside the John Kite-Ben Roberts combination and dish inside to Sam Rapira for an instant reply.

And, as if that wasn't enough, Solomona was on the end of some fancy football and a clever over-the-shoulder pass from Brent Tate to snare himself a double and stretch the difference to 30-6 at the break.

Steve Folkes implored his men to come off after 80 minutes knowing they had given their all.

His winger Heka Nanai scored his seventh of the campaign early in the second period to give the Bulldogs a much-needed confidence boost in the opening exchanges after half-time.

El Masri collected himself six more points with a diving finish down the short side, sneaking by a sleepy Kirk, and a super finish from wide out on the right.

Kirk wasn't the only slumbering Warrior in the closing stages and