While the Warriors' devastating 70-10 loss to the stampeding Storm on ANZAC Day was painful enough, young stand-off Chanel Harris-Tavita had another reason to be wincing.
Though the 60-point loss on Monday became their largest in franchise history, the pain felt by Nathan Brown's boys was sure to have dissipated long before the 23-year-old's unease.
As reported by the Mount Smart side, Harris-Tavita ruptured his testicle during a collision with fellow Warrior Josh Curran's knee following a try-saving tackle on Melbourne fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen.
In scenes reminiscent of All Black Wayne 'Buck' Shelford's off-the-canvas effort against the French in 1986, the Aucklander was attended to on the AAMI Park turf before waving away trainers in the 34th minute and playing out the remainder of the hefty defeat.
Despite the injury, Harris-Tavita turned in a sound shift that included 18 tackles, a linebreak and a try-assist during his heroic 80-minute effort.
Yet, while 'CHT' was unwilling to yield while Craig Bellamy's side continued to crash across the line at will, the Mฤori All-Stars representative will now miss the Warriors' next 3-4 fixtures.
Harris-Tavita will now join Curran and Dallin Watene-Zelezniak on the sideline, and with Kodi Nikoirima out due to health and safety protocols, as well as Ash Taylor unavailable, club veteran Shaun Johnson is now the only half available to Brown.
With the Warriors fixtured to face the Raiders, Sharks, Rabbitohs and Dragons across the course of the next month, the stark decline found during last Monday's second-half will need to be arrested if a place in September is to be obtained.
