Warriors leave it late to down Broncos The Warriors' winning run has stretched to five games after Konrad Hurrell's late 90-metre intercept try helped them down Brisbane 18-16 in an NRL nail-biter in Auckland on Sunday. With the clock showing nine minutes to go, Brisbane looked certain to extend their 16-12 lead. But Hurrell intercepted Scott Prince's cut-out pass that was intended for unmarked winger Lachlan Maranta. Hurrell then sprinted 90m, evading hard-chasing Brisbane skipper Sam Thaiday to dot down under the posts and give Shaun Johnson a simple conversion. With seconds remaining, Brisbane had the chance to send the encounter into extra time, but Corey Parker pushed a 48-metre penalty attempt wide. The win came at a cost for the Warriors, with winger Manu Vatuvei, the match's opening try-scorer, hobbling off with a knee injury 13 minutes into the second half. Four weeks ago, the Warriors overwhelmed an understrength Brisbane line-up 56-18. A similar result was never likely with the Broncos welcoming back their Queensland Origin quartet, including Thaiday, who was one of their best in an intense, physical contest. The opening half was a seesawing one, but Brisbane controlled proceedings in the second. They came out after the break with plenty of energy and they hit the front in the 47th minute via a slick passing move that create space for winger Josh Hoffman to score his 13th try of the season. The Kiwi look to have grabbed a double 15 minutes later through a similar move, but Corey Norman's final pass was called forward. The Broncos still looked the more likely, until Hurrell intervened. Both teams had late scratchings, with Warriors prop Russell Packer and Broncos counterpart Ben Hannant withdrawn because of injury. The Warriors dominated the opening exchanges and were rewarded in the 10th minute. The Broncos couldn't hold out a third repeat set as the ball was worked to an unmarked Vatuvei, who ran around to dot down by the posts. But Brisbane replied seven minutes later when Prince's pinpoint grubber gave Maranta a simple touchdown. They hit the front after producing some tremendous goal-line defence. Again, the Warriors had repeat sets, but the fourth of them ended with Maranta defusing Johnson's in-goal bomb. The visitors then went downfield and when the home side couldn't clean up a Norman bomb, halfback Peter Wallace toed ahead and scored himself. Prince's conversion made it 10-6, but the ebb and flow before 15,515 fans continued with the Warriors scoring in the shadow of halftime. This time, Vatuvei provided the assist, batting back a Johnson cross-kick for lock Elijah Taylor to dot down. Johnson's second conversion put the Warriors up 12-10 at the break.