Captain Simon Mannering and winger Manu Vatuvei both return for the Warriors’ eighth-round NRL clash with the Gold Coast Titans at Mount Smart Stadium on Sunday.

The veterans last played in the Warriors’ 16-20 loss to Canberra on April 13.

Mannering, fourth on the club’s all-time list with 171 NRL appearances, has been sidelined with a calf injury which prevented him leading the Kiwis in the Anzac Test on April 19 as well as last Thursday’s Anzac Day 18-28 loss to Melbourne.

Vatuvei also missed the Melbourne trip with a sternum problem, but has now recovered for his 156th career match this weekend.

In his last outing against the Raiders, he scored two tries to lift his club record total to 104 tries.

Mannering joins Feleti Mateo in the second row while Ben Henry, who replaced the captain against the Storm, will start in the centres.

Warriors coach Matthew Elliott said it was a “massive boost” to have Mannering and Vatuvei fit again.

“They’re hugely important to the team with their experience and the contribution they make,” he said.

For just the second time since early June last year, the Warriors will have their four 100-game plus props – Sam Rapira, Russell Packer, Ben Matulino and Jacob Lillyman – operating as a unit.

In the past four meetings between the two teams, the Warriors have beaten the Titans each time. They won 34-14 on the Gold Coast and 22-6 in Auckland in 2011, then prevailing 26-6 at home and 32-14 away in last year’s two encounters.

However, the Warriors currently sit bottom of the NRL ladder, with just one win from seven games and remain under huge pressure to back up their only victory of the season, four weeks ago against the Cowboys.

Warriors: Kevin Locke, Bill Tupou, Jerome Ropati, Ben Henry, Manu Vatuvei, Thomas Leuluai, Shaun Johnson, Sam Rapira, Nathan Friend, Russell Packer, Feleti Mateo, Simon Mannering (capt), Todd Lowrie. Interchange: Ben Matulino, Jacob Lillyman, Elijah Taylor, Pita Godinet, Ngani Laumape.