Both coaches pointed to the first 15 minutes of the second half as the turning point in a New Zealand Warriors victory over the Bulldogs that lifted them into the NRL's top eight for the first time this year.

Leading 12-10 at halftime, the Bulldogs had a mountain of possession at the Warriors' end of the field, including three sets in a row as the home side were made to work hard to defend their line.

But they managed to repel the threat and scored through Manu Vatuvei at the other end soon after and got on a roll as a result.

Warriors coach Ivan Cleary believed his side's stoic defence was the key to their second half revival and paid tribute to those efforts.

"It was a significant momentum swinger in the game," Cleary said.

"We really had to absorb some pressure at the start of the second half which we haven't done all that well this year so certainly from the defence side it was a real improvement."

Captain Ruben Wiki, who scored his first try of the season when he dotted down in the second half, voiced a similar admiration for the defensive efforts of his team-mates.

"Our defence was strong and showed some character and got some credibility back into our defence," Wiki said.

"Defence wins games and we showed we'd improved a lot from last week; we've still got a lot to work on but I'm really proud of the boys."

Conversely, Bulldogs coach Steve Folkes was left to rue his side's failure to extend their lead during that crucial period.

"I think we had three repeat sets and you should pretty much come up with a try if you can achieve that," Folkes said.

Folkes said his side had come across the Tasman with a clear game plan but suffered the consequences of not sticking to it.

The Bulldogs failed to bounce back from a 40-12 thrashing by the Roosters last week and their coach pointed to a lack of brain power as the reason for their third loss of the season.

"We just played unintelligently today. The effort was there, the preparation was there but we came with a game plan and we didn't execute it too well at all," he said.

For the Warriors giant winger Vatuvei grabbed a brace to take his try tally to six in just five matches as the team maintained their unbeaten home record this season in three matches at Mt Smart Stadium.

But they had to come from behind against a side for whom second rower Sonny Bill Williams was, as expected, a constant threat with his offloading ability.

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