Front-rower Addin Fonua-Blake has grabbed a try double, but that wasn't enough to inspire NZ Warriors home against Gold Coast Titans, falling 27-24 in their Anzac Day NRL encounter at Go Media Stadium.
Six days after capitulating to St George Dragons, the home side produced an eerily similar performance against a team that were yet to win two months into the season. Racing out to an early 12-0 lead, the Warriors conceded the next 27 points, before staging a strong finish that carried them agonisingly short of victory.
Titans fullback AJ Brimson also scored a brace of tries
In his 100th NRL game, fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad scored the opening try off a setplay, entering the line outside Shaun Johnson and dummying to centre Rocco Berry to wrongfoot the defence.
The Warriors were gifted another chance, when Titans winger Alofiana Khan-Pereira got tangled up with Berry while playing the ball, deemed a knockon, and from the scrum, Fonua-Blake punched over between the posts.
Gold Coast struck back, when winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak somewhat deserted his post in defence, allowing Khan-Pereira to break down the sideline and put fullback AJ Brimson away for the try.
The Titans had another opportunity, when Warriors utility Dylan Walker interfered with a play-the-ball in his own territory, and from the penalty, Gold Coast half Tannah Boyd dummied, before cutting back against the grain to score.
At this stage, the Warriors let their early dominance slip away.
Brimson put the Titans back on attack, when he bounced away from three tacklers, and Warriors winger Marcelo Montoya conceded a dropout, fumbling a high kick behind his goal-line.
Gold Coast secured the short kickoff and powerhouse second-rower David Fifita scored beside the posts for the lead.
Another Montoya mistake gifted the Titans field position in the final seconds of the first half and Boyd rubbed salt into the wounds with a field goal that stretched the margin beyond a converted try.
Ahead 19-12, the visitors imposed themselves from the restart, forcing Berry to knock on a Brimson kick. From the scrum, centre Brian Kelly provided an overlap for Khan-Pereira to score in the corner.
The Warriors seemed to have pulled themselves out of their funk, when a penalty in Titans territory put them on the frontfoot and centre Roger Tuivasa-Sheck leapt high to claim a pinpoint kick from Johnson, but the try was disallowed for a knockon.
When Watene-Zelezniak knocked on in a tackle at his own end, Fifita offloaded to Brimson for his second try.
Fonua-Blake sparked the comeback, when he rumbled 12 metres to the posts for his second. The home side got another back, when Berry chased another Johnson kick, barely controlling the ball in midair to fall over the tryline.
Suddenly, the Warriors had a second wind. Johnson kicked to the corner and Berry fell on the loose ball, but again ruled out for a knockon by Watene-Zeleniak in the air. An identical play gave them a scrum 10 metres out and then a set restart on the tryline, as they applied the blowtorch, but the pressure came to nothing.
Another promising raid ended with Watene-Zelezniak over the tryline, but held up on his back. Johnson mixed up his kicking game with one along the ground, but Brimson barely forced the ball, before Berry arrived on the scene.
The home side were creating enough chances to sneak home, but Gold Coast continued to defend resolutely for their drought-breaking win, after losing to Canberra Raiders in Golden Point two weeks ago and leading Manly Sea Eagles well into the second half last week.
The Warriors have a long break now to contemplate their predicament, sliding down the NRL table and out of playoff contention for now, before visiting Newcastle Knights next Sunday.
Gold Coast Titans 27 (Brimson 2, Boyd, D Fifita, Khan-Pereira tries; Boyd 3 conversions & field goal) NZ Warriors 24 (Fonua-Blake 2, Nicoll-Klokstad, Berry tries; Johnson 4 conversions)
