League: Ill-disciplined Warriors pay price

The New Zealand Warriors paid the ultimate penalty for an ill-disciplined final quarter meltdown as a resurgent Gold Coast Titans launched their NRL campaign with an unlikely 24-18 victory at Skilled Park.

The Warriors surrendered 18 unanswered points from the brink of half-time - and crucially two tries during the dramatic closing stages - to mar the impressive debuts of new scrum-base combination Brett Seymour and James Maloney.

After clocking off in defence in the 40th minute, the Warriors could never reassert the dominance Maloney and Seymour provided with a precise kicking game.

The Titans, who prevailed despite a substandard 25 from 45 completion rate, regained enough ruthlessness to benefit once Lance Hohaia and Brent Tate committed unnecessary infringements at the play the ball.

Those indiscretions gave the Titans the platform they required to square the contest in the 63rd minute.

After piggybacking 60m down field, smart handling from Scott Prince and Preston Campbell allowed Wellington-born debutant Joseph Tomane to draw two defenders before flicking a pass to David Mead who did remarkably well to avoid Manu Vatuvei and the corner flag before he forced the ball one-handed, rolling backwards.

Prince's sideline conversion signalled the momentum shift, and seven minutes later the Titans took the lead for the first time, when the mercurial Campbell forced a grubber to the in-goal between the sticks.

The Warriors, offensively inert for most the second spell, conjured up two long-distance raids in a quest to take the match into golden-point extra time but Vatuvei was dispossessed by the diminutive Campbell when a hat-trick beckoned and Mead came to the rescue when he booted Hohaia's 77th-minute kick ahead dead.

Derided before game on the basis of a forgettable 2009 season, the Warriors missed an ideal opportunity to join Newcastle as surprise round one winners.

Maloney and Seymour both produced pinpoint cross kicks for wings Vatuvei and Kevin Locke and Seymour's goal kicking was also flawless to give the Warriors a 12-point buffer.

Seymour, thrown a career lifeline after being dumped by the Broncos and Cronulla, admitted the first start for his new club was disappointing.

"We switched off before half-time and it's come back to bite us ... We just had that little lapse," he said.

The oppressive South Queensland heat, a concern before the afternoon kick-off, never eventuated, though muggy conditions contributed to a high error rate.

The Warriors host the Sharks in Auckland next week, hopeful captain Simon Mannering (hamstring) will be available, though prop Steve Price remains doubtful with a heel injury.