Manly Warringah Sea Eagles suffered a heartbreaking 16-14 loss to the Newcastle Knights in round two of the NSWRL Jersey Flegg Cup at 4 Pines Park today.
Match: Sea Eagles v Knights
Round 2 -
home Team
Sea Eagles
12th Position
away Team
Knights
6th Position
Venue: 4 Pines Park, Sydney
Match broadcasters:
- WatchNRL
Following a round one loss at home to Canberra, the Sea Eagles fought hard to get themselves back into the match before conceding a late try to the Knights in a dour struggle.
The first points came in the 30th minute after both sides had some missed opportunities early.
Manly prop Lewis Saad was held up over the line in the first test of the Knights defence while Newcastle bombed two try scoring chances.
However, it was the Knights who opened proceedings after five-eighth Sosaia Latu stepped his way to the line for a 4-0 lead.
After conceding a try to Newcastle centre Zahn McKay a minute after the break, the Sea Eagles hit back quickly with a lovely short pass from half Cameron Robertson to send second-rower Kalani Peyroux-Donaldson over on the left edge for an 8-6 scoreline.
Manly then went back-to-back with a superb try to full-back Aymn Hamilton. Centre Manly centre Benjamin Keene-O’Keefe broke through two defenders to offload to winger Thomas Klem, who put in a perfectly well-timed kick for Hamilton to finish off a 40 metre try to give the Sea Eagles a 12-8 lead after 52 minutes.
Newcastle prop William Bates then carried three defenders with him to plant the ball down on the line for a 12-all scoreline with 14 minutes remaining.
A penalty goal to Manly winger Tenzin Contor saw the Sea Eagles take a 14-12 lead with six minutes left.
The Knights regained the lead when Bates offloaded in traffic for prop/captain Te Kaio Cranwell to dive over for a 16-14 lead with two minutes remaining.
Manly have a bye next weekend.
