Match Report: Round 24 vs Wests Tigers

The Sea Eagles got off to a great start scoring off their opening set but sadly weren’t able to cross for their second try until 78 minutes later.

It was a terrific show of strength and skill for the opening try from Tolu Koula who beat four defenders on his way to the line from 45 meters out, giving his team a 6-0 lead after just 90 seconds.

The Tigers soon found themselves inside the Sea Eagles half after a pass from Tom Trbojevic at the other end was ruled forward.

That mistake was then compounded by a set restart which led to the Tigers first try when quick hands around the ruck resulted in Adam Doueihi darting over from close range.

The Sea Eagles lost centre Reuben Garrick to a shoulder injury mid-way through the first half with Tommy Talau taking the field as his replacement on the right edge. 

The Tigers continued to be gifted good field position on the back of Manly’s mistakes.  A penalty off a kick chase at the other end soon turned into more points for the home side.

With Manly caught short on their left, the Tigers found space for right winger Jeral Skelton to cross millimetres in from the touchline in the 33rd minute.

 A sideline conversion from Doueihi put his team up 12-6, which remained the scoreline at half time.

Penalties and a series of ruck infringements had the Tigers camped on Manly’s line for the opening six minutes of the second half with the home side unable to convert field position into points.

A chance then went begging for Manly at the other end of the field when Tom Trbojevic was unable to plant the ball off a Daly Cherry-Evans kick.

Another good scoring opportunity presented itself for the Sea Eagles when the Tigers were unable to clean up a DCE spiral bomb, when their fullback and winger collided.

With the Tigers on the back foot Talau opted to dart from dummy half, resulting in a double-movement penalty against his side, which proved costly. 

On the very next set Manly were made to pay, and what could have been a 12-all scoreline suddenly turned into an 18-6 scoreline in the Tigers' favour.

It was Sunia Turuva who collected a pass out wide to put to his team ahead by two converted tries.

The Tigers next try, which put the game all but out of reach for the visitors, again came after Manly blew an attacking opportunity at the other end.

A mix up between Cherry-Evans and Ben Trbojevic when an opportunity appeared on the short side, resulted in a fumble.

On the very next set Tigers left centre Taylan May split the defence, racing 45 metres to score to make it 24-6 with 17 minutes remaining.

Chasing points the Sea Eagles were forced into several errors as the clock counted down and the match slipped away.

The Tigers gave themselves a 20-point buffer with a penalty goal from in front with about 5 minutes to play, after Jason Saab was pinged for off-side from a short drop out.

Matt Lodge crossed for a late consolation from close range in the 78th minute to round off the Sea Eagles' 11th loss of the season.