Centre Ali Leiataua's late intercept try capped a thrilling comeback for the One New Zealand Warriors as they came back from an eight-point deficit to beat Newtown 26-24 in Saturday's round five New South Wales Cup clash at Henson Park in Sydney.
Inside the final 10 minutes the Warriors were down 14-24 when first ex-Leeds second rower Morgan Gannon scored in the 70th minute which left his side just four points behind 20-24.
Then with six minutes to go with the Jets attacking through their left edge Leiataua sweated on an intercept 70 metres out, snaffled it and outpaced the chasers bring it around closer to the posts for Jett Cleary to nail victory with the conversion.
Earlier the Warriors were dominant in the opening 20 minutes.
Halfback Cleary was the man causing all the damage, crashing over for a try inside eight minutes after cutting through the heart of the Jets' defence, before adding a conversion and a penalty goal to give his side a commanding 8-0 lead.
Match: Jets v Warriors
Round 5 -
home Team
Jets
6th Position
away Team
Warriors
7th Position
Venue: Henson Park, Sydney
The Jets fought back when Riley Pollard crossed to get Newtown on the board, before centre Michael Gabrael powered over to give the home side a 12-8 lead before half-time.
Gabrael was unable to continue after injuring himself in the act of scoring and was replaced by Kobie Wilson, forcing a reshuffling of the back-line that saw Cathane Hill shift from fullback to the wing.
The second half was a momentum contest.
A handling error gifted the Jets possession in the 44th minute and Riley Jones finished with a strong run out wide to extend the lead to 10 points.
But the Warriors responded through debutant interchange forward Braelan Marsh, who crossed with his very first touch bringing the margin back to four.
Cathane Hill then finished a slick back-line movement to push Newtown out to 24-14, before a Cleary 40-20 turned the game on its head with around 20 minutes remaining.
The Warriors capitalised on the momentum, with Gannon crashing over from close range to close the gap to six points with 10 minutes to play.
And then the decisive moment when Newtown hooker Jayden Berrell 's pass was gleefully seized on by Leiataua., who raced away to level the scores.
Cleary converted to nudge the Warriors in front by two, and despite a frantic final five minutes they held on for a
Cleary was outstanding for the Warriors, finishing with a try, a try assist, a 40-20 and five from five with the boot.
Marsh made an immediate impact off the bench, scoring with his first touch after entering the field midway through the second half.
The Warriors are now 3-2 after five rounds, moving up to seventh on six points for now.
They will look to build on their back-to-back wins when they head to AAMI Park to face the Melbourne Storm next weekend.
