By Darren Walton 

The Warriors have opened their 2024 account after bursting Canberra’s bubble and holding on for a nerve-racking 18-10 NRL victory in Christchurch.

Six days after blowing an eight-point lead with three minutes remaining against Melbourne, the Warriors had coach Andrew Webster on the edge of his seat in the dying stages again on Friday night.

Clinging to an eight-point advantage once again, the Warriors did everything possible to invite the Raiders back into the contest with a plethora of errors on their own line.

But Ricky Stuart’s previously unbeaten charges were unable to capitalise as the Warriors notched their first win of the season after heartbreaking losses to Cronulla and the Storm.

The Kiwi outfit blew a 12-0 lead at home against the Sharks before falling victim to Xavier Coates’ miraculous last-gasp try last weekend at AAMI Park.

The hard-earned victory over Canberra was in stark contrast to the nine-try spectacle against the Storm, but Webster will take the two competition points however his side earn them at this rate.

The Warriors enjoyed much of the first-half running at Apollo Projects Stadium, but only had a 6-4 lead to show for their clear territorial dominance.

Addin Fonua-Blake bagged the Warriors’ only try of the half in the 18th minute after cashing in on a lovely ball from Shaun Johnson.

The powerhouse prop looked certain to grab a second, only for Raiders winger Xavier Savage to pull off a try-saving tackle on the line.

Jackson Ford then bombed what looked a certain try when he neglected to feed winger Dallin Watane-Zelezniack with the line wide open.

The two near-misses came back to haunt the home side when Canberra centre Matthew Tomoko bumped off Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and Marcelo Montoya to open the Raiders’ account eight minutes from halftime.

The Raiders briefly claimed the lead for the only time of the night through a 54th-minute try to winger Nic Cotric.

But quickfire replies from Metcalf and Tuivasa-Sheck put the Warriors back in front with 15 minutes remaining, and the premiership’s most unpredictable team hung on for an all-important win.