NRL: Anxious wait for Warriors

Russell Packer of the Warriors takes on the defence. Photo / Getty Images

The New Zealand Warriors face an anxious wait to see if they will stay alive in the NRL playoffs after they fell to a 28-16 defeat to bogey team Gold Coast in Queensland tonight.

The loss means the Warriors will need at least two of the three other teams that finished the regular season above them - minor premiers St George Illawarra, Penrith and Wests Tigers - to win their matches over the rest of the weekend.

If that happens, they will travel back across the Tasman in week two of the finals. If not, their campaign will be over.

For the Warriors, who struggled to reproduce their form of recent weeks, the damage was done in the opening spell, when the Gold Coast ran in four tries and jumped out to a 22-16 halftime lead.

During a second-half comeback, there was a personal milestone for winger Manu Vatuvei, who grabbed the 78th try of his career and went past Stacey Jones as the most prolific try-scorer in the club's history.

The Titans had gone into the qualifying final in Robina with recent history on their side, with a five-match winning streak against the Warriors and having won all three encounters with the Auckland-based club at Skilled Park.

They withstood some early pressure before dominating possession and forcing holes in a Warriors defence that had been stingy during the last five weeks of the regular season.

Winger William Zillman, pressed into the fullback role with Preston Campbell's unavailability through injury, grabbed a first-half double.

The Warriors were first on the board, when centre Brent Tate's offload led to hooker Aaron Heremaia dotting down for a converted try.

But the home side then struck back with a vengeance and it was no surprise that influential skipper Scott Prince got the ball rolling despite playing with a shoulder injury.

A Prince grubber into the in-goal led to a try to the speedy Zillman before former Warrior Clinton Toopi got into the act.

Another Prince kick, this time a cross-field bomb, was tapped into Toopi's hand and the centre made no mistake with the Titans' second try.

Zillan grabbed his team's third after breaking through some weak tackling, before veteran five-eighth Mat Rogers also dotted down to make it a 16-point lead at the interval.

Prince added a penalty early in the second half before the Warriors gave the away fans hope of a big come back.

Centre Joel Moon, a late replacement for Jerome Ropati, who was ruled out with a shoulder injury sustained against Parramatta last weekend, forced his way over, before Vatuvei got his record-breaking try.

Finally put into some space as the visitors began getting more of the ball, Vatuvei barged his way over through three defenders to reduce the margin to 24-16.

However, Titans winger Kevin Gordon settled any jitters among the home support when he crossed in the corner with a quarter-hour to go.

GOLD COAST 28 (W Zillman 2 K Gordon M Rogers C Toopi tries S Prince 4 goals) bt NZ WARRIORS 16 (A Heremaia J Moon M Vatuvei tries J Maloney 2 goals) at Skilled Park. Referee: Tony Archer, Gavin Badger. Crowd: 27,026.

- NZPA