Manly Warringah Sea Eagles recorded a 30-10 victory over the Gold Coast Titans at Cbus Super Stadium tonight in round 11 of the Telstra Premiership.
In front of a crowd of 12,509, the Sea Eagles led 18-8 at half-time before overcoming plenty of goal-line pressure midway through the second half to claim victory.
It was Manly’s sixth win of the season and moves the team into sixth position ahead of next week’s bye.
The match was extra special for Manly centre Brian Kelly as it was played on his 21st birthday against his former club.
The Sea Eagles opened the scoring when a nice pass from half-back Daly Cherry-Evans saw winger Akuila Uate race down the left flank before easily standing up full-back Tyrone Roberts to score. Full-Matthew Wright converted from next to the posts for a 6-0 lead after 14 minutes.
Three minutes later, a pass from Manly five-eighth Blake Green hit centre Brian Kelly on the head with the ball bouncing into the arms of Gold Coast half-back Ash Taylor who raced 20 metres to score in the corner. Taylor converted his own try for a 6-all scoreline after 17 minutes.
A nice floating pass from Cherry-Evans found Uate in open space three minutes later. The winger again beat Roberts before offloading for centre Dylan Walker to score. Wright converted from next to the posts for a 12-6 lead after 22 minutes.
Two minuted later, Manly hooker Api Koroisau darted from dummy half to slam the ball down with one arm to score next to the posts. Wright converted to give the Sea Eagles an 18-6 lead after 25 minutes.
The Sea Eagles then lost second-rower Frank Winterstein for 10 minutes to the sin-bin after interfering with a Titans player from a quick tap.
The Titans bombed a tryscoring opportunity in the 35th minute when winger Anthony Don dropped the ball from a Taylor crossfield kick. Manly then bombed a certain try when a pass from Walker to Uate saw the ball fall out of the winger’s hands two minutes before half-time.
Second Half
The Sea Eagles started the second half off perfectly when lock Jake Trbojevic scored next to the posts after a strong crossfield run and great one handed offload by second-rower Curtis Sironen. Wright converted for a 24-6 lead after 47 minutes.
Gold Coast winger Anthony Don reduced the scoreline to 24-10 when he planted the ball down from a grubber kick just short of the dead ball line with 22 minutes left.
Walker sealed the win when he scored out wide with five minutes remaining. Wright converted for the 30-10 scoreline.
