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The NYC Newcastle Knights clawed back from a 16-0 deficit in the first half to defeat the New Zealand Warriors at Hunter Stadium on Sunday. 

Knights TV caught up with captain Danny Levi after scoring his third double of the season, scooting from dummy half to score both tries.

“I get really good go-forward from the boys close to the line,” he said. 

“A couple of players gave me really good play the balls, so I just see the opportunity and end up in it.”

The Warriors jumped to an early lead, but the Knights clawed back before an arm wrestle ensued until the Knights asserted their dominance by fulltime. 

Levi explained the players discovered much needed inspiration when the team was behind the line after a Warriors try in the first half. 

“Smithy (U20s manager Craig Smith) came over and had a bit of a chat to us and told us to get back to our basics," he revealed.

“We had a good defensive set and straight after that, had a nice attack set and scored off the back of that.

“That just gave us a really good go forward so we stuck to that and it panned out for us."

It was a day for doubles with Harry Pondekas scoring his second for the Club.

“It was good, I love playing in the blue and red and when I go out there I enjoy it immensely,” Pondekas said. 

The front rower was not in full health suffering from an illness on game day. 

“Even with scoring those two tries, aspects of my game were down a bit today with my illness, like my line speed and certain things in defence, but I pushed through it as much as I could," he admitted.

“Hopefully next week I’m back on top of my game and my health is back where I want it to be." 

James Taylor also had a solid second game returning from an injury sustained five weeks ago, against his former Club. 

He believes the team worked hard and dug deep to secure a win after trailing the Warriors. 

Despite the Knights enviable position on top of the table and consecutive wins, the side has high expectations and strive for improvement as they approach the finals.  

“We were very scrappy today and in our own end we let ourselves down with stupid mistakes and unforced errors,” Pondekas said. 

“We need to take the tackle, quick play the ball and keep going forward. 

“We came back but it was just a try for try match. 

It’s a good win and the two points keeps us on top of the ladder."

The team’s captain also identified areas he’d like to see the side polish. 

“I really want to improve in our defence, we went tit for tat and that’s something we really don’t want to be doing this end of the season,” Levi said.

“I think the boys did really well to come back from 16-0 deficit. 

“We just have to improve on the little things like slowing the play the ball down because they got us around the ruck but I’m confident the boys will do it."