Manly Warringah Sea Eagles have ended their three game losing streak beating Parramatta 24-10 in a solid display at Pirtek Stadium keeping the hope of finals alive.
The Sea Eagles started the game on the front foot earning an early penalty and forcing a drop out before the Eels could get the hands on the ball. But the first 20 minutes saw very little action with both sides making errors and failing to capitalize on any field position.
It wasn’t until the 22nd minute when Luke Garner finally converted pressure into points to score a try for the Sea Eagles, ending a slick backline move to crash over in the corner and give Manly the lead. Within the blink of an eye Manly had their second after a great chip and chase from Dummy-half Michael Stig giving Manly a 10-0 lead after 25 minutes.
Manly continued to apply the pressure to the Eels but their defensive line held strong to keep Manly from further extending the lead.
Parramatta finally got on the board after a cut-out ball from Nick Hynes ended up in the wrong hands and Parra’s Fou Tagilima ran 90m to score the try reducing the gap to only six points.
The half ended on a sour note for Manly with five-eighth Will Pearsall sent to the sin-bin by the referee with only seconds left on the clock before half time but Parra weren’t able to add to their score and it remained 10-4 to Manly at halftime.
On return in the second half Parramatta made the most of the one man advantage to score their second try in the 47th minute through John Folau (which is hopefully a good omen for wallabies fans), and with Zach Docker-Clay nailing the kick from the touchline scores were locked at 10 a piece.
After a sluggish start to the half, Manly kicked into gear after getting their full contingent back on the field, with Latrell Schaumakel getting on the end of another backline move and having too much speed for his opposing winger to get it down in the corner in the 51st minute.
Just like the first half one try turned into another for the Sea Eagles with young gun Tom Trbojevic getting aerial and taking a great grab above the pack to then offload to Liam Knight who did the rest to score the try. Sea Eagles were up 18-10 after 55 minutes.
Parramatta weren’t going to go away without a fight though and made the Sea Eagles defence work for the win. The boys were up to the task holding Parra up over the line not once, twice but three times to keep them from bridging the gap.
Manly then delivered the knock out blow in the 70th minute with winger Luke Gosling getting the ball down with only centimetres to spare to increase the lead. Luke Garner made it even harder for Parra nailing the kick from the touchline to make the scores 24-10.
The final 10 minutes saw the ball locked on Manly’s goal line for the majority but the boys stood strong to hold Parra up for a fourth time, with a couple of try saving one on one tackles added in for good measure.
Final score 24-10 Manly defeating Parramatta and keeping them in the hunt for finals football.
