League: Warriors taint Cayless farewell

The New Zealand Warriors carry winning momentum into the National Rugby League (NRL) play-offs after claiming a match of finals-like intensity to ruin the farewell of Parramatta legend Nathan Cayless in Sydney last night.

There was no fitting conclusion to the former Kiwis skipper's 259-game first grade career as the Warriors unleashed a second-half blitz to surge to a 26-12 victory at Parramatta Stadium.

Their reward is a trip to the Gold Coast, where they play the fourth placed Titans on Friday night -- a club they have lost to in both meetings this season.

The Warriors survived the justified sinbinning of five-eighth James Maloney and a caning in the penalty count to finish strongly against an Eels side inspired by Cayless's swansong.

Ironically it was a rare Warriors penalty in the second half that swung momentum the visitors way.

Backchat advanced the Warriors into attacking position and the call to reject a handy two points was justified when interchange prop Jess Royal touched down under the posts after taking a smart Brett Seymour flick pass.

A converted try by Kevin Locke then made the game safe at 20-6 -- a sad outcome for Cayless whose missed tackle on Aaron Heremaia set the Warriors' fourth try in motion.

Manu Vatuvei then equalled the Warriors' all time tryscoring record, joining legendary halfback Stacey Jones on 77.

When he muscled past marker and 2011 Warriors recruit Krisnan Inu with 12 minutes to play, the damaging wing also matched the 19 tries Sean Hoppe recorded in a regular season.

At least Cayless had some cause for celebration at the close of his 14-year career when he scored a popular consolation try with five minutes remaining -- his first since mid-2007.

Fittingly Cayless made the game's first hit-up and the Warriors worked hard on defence early, combating three consecutive sets before Inu lost control of a grubber over the line.

The former Kiwis wing made amends soon after when he batted down a pass for a try-bound Vatuvei.

The Warriors then forced four successive goal line dropouts and the pressure eventually told on their next possession in the 16th minute when a Brett Seymour grubber sat up perfectly for Jerome Ropati who grounded the ball centimetres inside the touchline despite the attention of Jarryd Hayne.