Match Report: Round 20 vs Storm

It was a dominant first half from Manly who scored three unanswered tries in a 10-minute period before sealing victory with a penalty goal in the dying minutes.

The Sea Eagles opened the scoring in the third minute when Reuben Garrick took the two points on offer from a penalty given a for a strip from Melbourne.

It was the Storm, however, who landed the first try, turning possession into points after back-to-back penalties.  Left winger Xavier Coates crossed in the corner, taking advantage of a simple overlap on the left.

Tempers boiled over a couple of times in the first half. Manly receiving a penalty after a push and shove between Matt Lodge and Tui Kamikamica, and the Storm receiving a penalty when Jake Trbojevic engaged in a heated confrontation with Trent Loiero.

The visitors then built pressure in Melbourne’s end through a Cherry-Evans’ kick which forced a repeat set, leading to Manly’s first try of the match shortly after.

It was a nice combination on the right edge with Tom Trbojevic drawing three defenders to send winger Jason Saab over untouched.

Turbo then made a solid tackle on Jahrome Hughes to force another repeat set and build further pressure before the visitors added their second.

This time it was on the left edge when Luke Brooks sent Tolu Koula storming into a hole to put his team up 12-6.

Manly were in again just minutes later with Brooks again heavily involved, throwing a looping cut-out ball to Garrick who scored in the southeastern corner to make it 16-6.

The Storm were denied a try in the shadows of half time when Harry Grant took off from dummy half. 

On closer inspection the Bunker found that Nelson Asofa Solomona had made dangerous contact with replacement hooker Jake Simpkin in the ruck.  Simpkin was then ruled out for the remainder of the match.

A grueling second half saw the Storm peg back a couple of tries to set up a grandstand finish.

Early on in the second period Manly were forced to defend several back-to-back sets on their line.

They were again under heavy pressure when Hughes made a break through the middle from half way, only for scrambling defence to save the day.

The home side made another long-range break that was spectacularly shut down by Lehi Hopoate.

Xavier Coates split the defence deep in his own half before Hopoate covered plenty of ground to run him down, taking him into to touch in the process.

Still 16-6 at the hour mark, the game was very much in the balance, before Coates grabbed his second try with about 15 minutes remaining.

Manly had a rare second half set on their opponent’s line which turned into a try at the other end of AAMI Park.

Hughes scooped up a forced pass on his own goal line before sending winger Grant Anderson on a long run downfield.  Spotting Coates about 35 metres away on the left, Anderson threw the longest of passes to send Coates on his way for try number two to make it 16-10.

He scored a third with about seven minutes remaining to bring the scores level at 16-16, outleaping Hopoate after a pinpoint bomb from Hughes.

Manly’s first points of the second half came in the 78th minute when Garrick landed a penalty goal from right in front to give his team a crucial two-point lead.

The decision had Storm fans seething and Manly’s cheering.  The penalty was given to Manly after a captain’s challenge which showed Grant had made contact on Brooks as he attempted a field goal.

The Storm regained possession off the restart for one last assault but Manly held on to break a six-year drought in Melbourne, claiming their ninth win of the season.