Knights rookie Sione Mata’utia scored the first hat-trick of his burgeoning NRL career to help Newcastle hold off a fast-finishing New Zealand Warriors and win 28-22 at Hunter Stadium on Sunday.

A late inclusion on the wing after Akuila Uate was ruled out with a knee injury, the highly touted 18-year-old showed off his finishing as the Knights claimed their sixth win from their last eight games.

Newcastle led 14-0 after 26 minutes thanks to the dominant left-side attack of Mata’utia and centre Joseph Leilua.

Mata’utia opened the scoring in the 10th minute after latching onto a deft Jarrod Mullen chip kick.

Leilua doubled the advantage 10 minutes later when he brushed through an attempt from Warriors centre Ben Henry to plant the ball down.

Mata’utia, the second youngest of four brothers, showed his speed a few minutes later after the Knights launched a blind-side scrum move that appeared to catch the Warriors napping.

Replays showed Warriors halfback Shaun Johnson may have been inadvertently impeded by referee Gavin Morris as he chased from the scrum.

The Warriors hit back twice before the break and once again after half-time to lock it up at 14-all.

From there it was up to the brilliance of Mata’utia, reaching out under the weight of Warriors fullback Sam Tomkins to touch down in the corner and make it 20-14.

Kurt Gidley knocked over a penalty a few minutes later to give the Knights an eight-point buffer.

Newcastle extended the margin further to 12 points when a Jarrod Mullen pass found centre Dane Gagai in space. Gagai found Sione’s brother Chanel who beat giant Warriors winger Manu Vatuvei to the corner to score.

But the Warriors weren’t done and crossed in each corner through David Fusitua and Vatuvei to set up a grandstand finish.

The Warriors kept coming and butchered an overlap when a Leilua intercept saved the Knights from a potential golden-point game just eight days after they snatched a miraculous victory from Melbourne Storm.