NRL: Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad scores four tries in Warriors’ 38-20 win over Cowboys in Christchurch

Sunday, 21 June 2026

Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad of the Warriors dives for one of his four tries against the Cowboys in Christchurch.

At One NZ Stadium, Christchurch: Warriors 38 (Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad 7min, 10min, 34min, 48min, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak 55min, Adam Pompey 70min, Taine Tuaupiki 74min tries; Pompey 5 goals) Cowboys 20 (Braidon Burns 23min, 62min, Scott Drinkwater 27min, Jeremiah Nanai 77min tries; Jake Clifford 2 goals). HT: 14-10.

Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad seized his main chance with a four-try winning return to the Warriors in a perfect dress rehearsal for Christchurch’s case to one day host a NRL team.

The Kiwis test fullback - starting a NRL game on the wing for the first time in nine years - had a hat-trick by 33 minutes and had another ruled out for a forward pass before nailing a fourth in the second half of a 38-20 victory over the Cowboys on Sunday.

While the second-placed Warriors bagged two points to cut the Panthers’ lead to four - Christchurch’s One NZ Stadium was the day’s big winner.

NRL chiefs Peter V’landys and Andrew Abdo cannot fail to have been impressed with the full-house - 25,361 partisans - under the roof.

V’landys has indicated that the NRL could expand to 20 teams by 2029 or 2030 and previously told Australian media another team in New Zealand would be ideal, especially with the growth of the game here. He also dropped a big hint that the team would have to be “down south” because they did not want to “cannibalise” the Warriors.

But that is all for the future. The Warriors were the home team on Sunday and they enjoyed raucous support as they completed a seven-try win;

The only blow was a pectoral injury to workaholic prop Jackson Ford in the 21st minute.

Coach Andrew Webster said they wouldn’t know the extent until Ford has a scan.

'We don’t know if it’s minor or big, we’ll find out when we scan,' Webster said. 'They can be really bad or they can be a couple of weeks.

'I don’t know too much about what you do with pecs but I think it is a good sign [he wasn’t in a sling]. We’ll wait until we get scans and see how we go with him.'

While Nicoll-Klokstad - a replacement for flyer Alofiana Khan-Perreira - hogged the headlines, the early razzle dazzle came from hooker Wayde Egan, who was electric from dummy half with 97 first-half metres before a HIA spell, and scrumhalf Te Maire Martin, who continues to grow with confidence in the role.

Nicoll-Klokstad played down his part in the first four-try haul of his career, saying his teammates inside him did all the work.

“I was just the the guy to put it down. I was very luck to get over for a few tries today,” he told Sky Sport’s post-match panel.

“I know everyone is pumped an toked about those four tries, but I know there’s a speed man [Khan-Perreira] watching and waiting at home. He does a eally good job on the wing for us too.

“Wherever Webby needs me, I’m there.”

Captain Mitchell Barnett - looking fresh after just 25 minutes for New South Wales in last Wednesday’s Origin loss to Queensland - came off the back fence for the Warriors’ first hit-up post kick-off and the first full-throated “Warriors’’ chant broke out in the second minute.

The cheering never let up as Nicoll-Klokstad helped himself to a fabulous four on the left flank.

Egan had a great chance to make the lead almost unassailable when he made a surging bust, but, with the try-line looming, his pass was intercepted and the Cowboys set sail for the Warriors’ end.

Todd Payten’s crew struck back with a try to winger Braidon Burns despite the crowd bemoaning that Scott Drinkwater’s final pass had drifted forward.

Drinkwater handed off a tackler to score under the posts to tie the game at 10-10.

The match officials got a hearty hooting from the Te Kaha faithful when VAR ruled Jacob Laban had knocked on, trying to dot down after soaring high to clutch a bomb.

Dallin Watene-Zelezniak of the Warriors celebrates his try.

The Cowboys - who enjoyed just 39% in the possession in the first spell and made 622m to the Warriors' 1089m with ball in hand - would have been delighted, given those metrics, to go into the break just 14-10 down.

Nicoll-Klokstad extended the margin to 10 points with his fourth touchdown, but the Warriors needed some last-ditch heroics from Martin to deny Jaxon Purdue a try after a bomb glanced off the post pad.

Cowboys enforcer Jason Taumololo got a send-off when sinbinned for a dangerous lifting tackle on Nicoll-Klokstad.

Martin produced a pearler pass for Dallin Watene-Zelezniak to score, before Burns bagged his second try for the Cowboys.

A much-reviewed converted Adam Pompey try from a towering Martin bomb and a Taine Tuaupiki clincher sealed the deal before a Cowboys consolation on an evening that whetted the South Island rugby league’s appetite for much more NRL.

The only blemish was a couple of youthful pitch trespassers with a minor scuffle developing after an older fan objected to security staff’s handling of a miscreant.