Match Report: NSW Cup Round 20 vs Bulldogs

The home side were strong from the word go, shooting out to a 30-4 lead at half-time.

Five more tries in the second half to Canterbury confirmed a 38-point defeat for Manly, with three second half tries to the boys from the Northern Beaches softening the blow. 

One bright moment to take away from the match was Esera Chee Kam’s try in the 57th minute in the winger’s NSW Cup debut. 

Tries to Luke Smith and Logan Spinks in the opening six minutes saw the Bulldogs take an early 12-point lead.

The Sea Eagles hit back in the 11th minute with a try to Joey Walsh. The young half-back put a grubber kick behind the defence ten metres out from the line, with Clayton Faulalo chasing hard. The full-back missed the ball, allowing for Walsh to come through and ground the ball for a try and 12-4 scoreline.

Long range efforts from the Bulldogs saw Mitchell Woods and Cassius Tia score in the 18th and 22nd minute to push their lead out to 24-4.

Spinks scored his second for Canterbury in the 31st minute for a 30-4 scoreline at the break.

Manly did well to hold on in the opening stages of the second half but ultimately fell in defence as Canterbury broke through, with Tia grabbing his second of the match for a 36-4 lead.

After winning the ball back from the kick-off, the Sea Eagles acted quickly to score their second try in the 58th minute. A quick shift through the hands to the right edge and good hold up play saw Esera Chee Kam crash over in the corner for a 36-10 scoreline.

Manly continued to build up momentum as they took advantage of a Canterbury error to score again three minutes later. Walsh took an offload and skipped past three players before passing out wide to Raymond Tuaimalo Vaega who scored in the corner, cutting the deficit to 36-14.

A smart offload by Tuaimalo Vaega and a well-timed pass by Semisi Kioa sent Faulalo into open space, who raced away to score Manly’s third try in a span of eight minutes, cutting the deficit to 36-20 with 12 minutes remaining.

The Bulldogs shut down any hopes of a comeback with four tries in the final ten minutes, bringing up the half century for a final scoreline of 58-20.

Manly travel to Commbank Stadium to take on the Penrith Panthers in round 21 of the NSW Cup. The match kicks off at 3pm on Saturday July 26.