Manly take out Bunnies in golden point thriller

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Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles v South Sydney Rabbitohs

The Manly Sea Eagles have needed 85 minutes to notch up their second win of the season as they took a 13-12 golden point victory over the South Sydney Rabbitohs at Brookvale Oval in front of 12,000 fans.

The visitors started off the first half poorly and Manly were able to take advantage twice in crossing the line although they were initially knocked back by the bunker for a knock on in goal. The Sea Eagles then took advantage when Tom Trbojevic picked up from where he left off last weekend in Christchurch when he scored after 15 minutes.

Momentum began to swing towards the Rabbitohs and they took advantage of the swing in momentum when Sam Burgess got over the line. Adam Reynolds' then looked to add a penalty goal but couldn't put it over before Souths added another 4 pointer just short of the break when Campbell Graham got over out wide after some poor missed tackles from the Sea Eagles defenders.

The second half began in the worst possible fashion for Manly when Tom Trbojevic suffered another hamstring injury. The impact of the injury was compounded for the Sea Eagles as they couldn't hold the ball in the early stages in the half but funnily enough it was a Souths error that gave Manly their only second half try.

 The only four-pointer of the second half came through Manly reserve hooker Manase Fainu who scooped up a loose ball from Campbell Graham after a strong tackle from Jake Trboevic. The conversion from Daly Cherry-Evans meant that Manly took a 12-10 lead.

Adam Reynolds needed two chances to level the scores up when he missed his first chance at penalty goal at close range before adding a penalty goal from the sideline after Joel Thompson was penalised and put on report for a trip. Reynolds was the only player to get a field goal chance in at the end of regular time which like Robbie Farah last night hit the upright and bounced away.

The scores were locked up at 12 all and golden point was on its way. Both sides controlled things in their opening sets of six in golden point before Adam Reynolds took the first shot which was called wide by Grant Atkins. In a repeat of last night, the impact of a 7 tackle set was on show when the Sea Eagles were able to get into perfect positions across the set and Daly Cherry-Evans needed just one shot to give the Sea Eagles the victory.

Next weekend, Manly have a trip to the Hunter Valley to take on the Newcastle Knights, meanwhile South Sydney take their home match against the Warriors to the Sunshine Coast Stadium in the early Saturday game.