A three-try haul to hulking rookie centre Konrad Hurrell has lifted New Zealand into the NRL top eight with a 32-14 win over an injury-ravaged Gold Coast at Skilled Park.

But the 20-year-old’s night was soured when he left the field midway through the second half with an ankle injury after falling awkwardly in a tackle.

Hurrell was unstoppable on the right edge as he completely outplayed his opposite number Jamal Idris in his 12th NRL match to surge to outright third on the tryscorers list with 12 in his debut season.

And it took him less than two minutes to get his first try of the night with five-eighth James Maloney splitting Jamal Idris and Aidan Sezer with ease after just 100 seconds to put the 100kg wrecking ball over.

In the shadows of halftime Hurrell showed brute force to drag three Gold Coast defenders over the line to score. He then sailed over in the right corner in the 46th minute before leaving the field 15 minutes later.

The win was enough for the Warriors to leapfrog the Wests Tigers and haul the 2011 grand finalists into eighth spot.

After Hurrell’s opening try the Titans wrested back the ascendancy to lead 14-4 after 22 minutes.

Without Origin stars Greg Bird, Nate Myles and Ashley Harrison, a three-try blitz gave the Titans a chance at stealing the match with Beau Champion, Kevin Gordon and David Mead racing over in a 10 minute period.

Mead’s effort was especially eye-catching, with the winger only alerting his teammates that he would be playing on game day following the death of his father in Papua New Guinea during the week.

He planted the ball in the right corner with his entire body in the air just before being pushed into touch.

But the double strike from Hurrell either side of the halftime mark handed the lead back to the Warriors which they never relinquished.