Last time they met:
It was scrappy, ugly and they probably didn’t deserve to win, but the Sea Eagles have come from behind to claim a memorable victory over Newcastle at Brookvale Oval on Monday night.
After clawing their way back from 10 points down late in the match, star halfback Daly Cherry-Evans produced one of the sweetest field goals to snatch a thrilling one-point victory on the buzzer to sink Newcastle's hearts.
Renowned for their red-hot starts this season, the Sea Eagles uncharacteristically coughed up a large amount of possession to gift their opposition quality field position.
Forced to defend their own line for the majority of the opening 20 minutes, the Sea Eagles defensive line finally gave way to a powerful Akuila Uate on the quarter hour mark.
The Newcastle winger took advantage of a quick play the ball as he snuck down the short side to catch the Manly edge defence off guard. Uate simply using his large build to muscle his way over and score the only try of the half.
The home side weren’t helping their cause when they began the second half, completing just one of seven sets to have the Knights camped in their own half.
The pressure mounted and it appeared as though the Knights were rewarded when a simple kick into the in-goal saw winger David Williams cough up possession for Newcastle’s Robbie Rochow to get a hand to the ball and score.
Despite seeing the red light after the on-field referee called a no try, the Knights were able to find the line from the ensuing set courtesy of Uate second.
The home side finally managed to get themselves on the board through winger Jorge Taufua, however their celebrations were short-lived as Dane Gagai ran 70 metre after a one-on-one strip on Steve Matai to extend Newcastle’s lead to 10 points.
The Knights were awarded a penalty soon after, but their decision to kick for goal proved match defining as the Sea Eagles went up field and scored back to back tries through Taufua and Matt Ballin to level scores at 14-all.
After several field goal attempts from both sides, it came down to the last play of the game for Cherry-Evans to slot a field goal from 30 metres out and 20 metres in from touch to snatch victory.
Get your tickets to the clash at Brookvale here!
Last five meetings:
2011 July 17th Manly 32-10 Newcastle, Hunter Stadium
2012 July 14th Manly 6-32 Newcastle, Hunter Stadium
2012 August 19th Manly 42-20 Newcastle, Brookvale Oval
2013 March 17th Manly 32-0 Newcastle, Brookvale Oval
2014 May 19th Manly 15-14 Newcastle, Brookvale Oval
General Stats:
Manly have won five of their last six against the Knights. That also includes 10 wins from 11 matches at Brookvale.
The Sea Eagles have been rotating the squad due to injuries and have so far used 29 players after the first eight rounds in the NRL.
Manly are currently on a three game winning streak against the Knights, their longest in the NRL.
In his past two games against the Knights, Jorge Taufua has scored five tries.
Manly’s biggest win in the NRL over the Knights was in 2004 as they romped home 48-10 winners at Brookvale Oval. Brett Stewart played in that game and scored two tries.
The Prince of Brookvale only needs one more try to score 150 NRL tries for Manly.
