NRL: Warriors' season continues downward spiral

Stacey Jones competes with Anthony Laffranchi for the ball. Photo / Getty Images

The New Zealand Warriors' season continued to peter out today as they fell 30-10 to Gold Coast in a lacklustre National Rugby League match in Auckland today.

The result left the Warriors rooted to third bottom on the table, but maintained the third-placed Titans' hopes of home advantage when the playoffs come around.

Both sides were guilty of mistakes, but the visitors' strong start proved to be decisive.

The Titans made light of playing into the wind in the first half by dominating the opening quarter, starving the Warriors of possession by manufacturing a series of repeat sets.

Halves Scott Prince and Preston Campbell put plenty of pressure of the home defence with their kicking game, while Nathan Friend was also asking questions from dummy half.

After a Prince penalty, Gold Coast posted two soft tries that took them out to a 14-0 lead at the midpoint of the opening spell.

A inside ball from Friend resulted in second rower Anthony Laffranchi strolling over close the ruck, before Prince dotted down when the Titans were allowed to keep the ball alive.

The balance of the game then swung, with the Titans taking the foot off the pedal, but the Warriors' tentative attack failed to make the most of their half-chances.

The home side got a let-off late in the half when Gold Coast centre Jordan Atkins crossed but was called back because of an earlier offside.

The Warriors finally got on the board early in the second half with a favourite final-tackle option, halfback Stacey Jones kicking for Manu Vatuvei's flank.

The giant winger was able to collect and dot down before Kevin Locke, who showed some good touches in his first appearance as fullback, converted from the sideline.

The Jones-Vatuvei partnership was fruitful again seven minutes later with Vatuvei pulling in another pin-point kick to grab his 10th try of the season.

But the Titans put the brakes on the comeback when a Prince kick into no-man's land was batted back by centre Mat Rogers for a simple try to winger Kevin Gordon and an 18-10 scoreline.

Rogers then put the game out of reach by stepping through some loose defence to finish off a blindside scrum move.

The dual international added a second with three minutes to go to blow out the score.

Gold Coast Titans 30 (Mat Rogers 2, Anthony Laffranchi, Scott Prince, Kevin Gordon tries; Prince 5 goals) New Zealand Warriors 10 (Manu Vatuvei 2 tries; Kevin Locke goal). Halftime: 14-0.

- NZPA