Manly scores dour win against Tigers, but at a cost

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Wests Tigers v Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles

The Sea Eagles picked up their fourth win of the year in an ugly, 22-16 wet-weather victory over the last placed Wests Tigers, but the 70th minute injury to star fullback Tom Trbojevic dampened the result.

Manly also had centre Brad Parker and forward Toafofoa Sipley nursing injuries late in the game in what could well be a costly victory.

Manly opened the scoring in the 8th minute through a brilliant team try that spanned 90 metres. From the play the ball, Haumole Olakau'atu refused to be grassed despite the attention of 3 defenders before getting an offload away to Morgan Harper, who ran 20 metres before linking with Jason Saab in the clear, who then turned it back inside to Tom Trbojevic who drew the cover defender and then offloaded to Daly Cherry-Evans who strolled away to score. Reuben Garrick converted.

Shortly after, the rain started to fall steadily and refused to ease for the remainder of the game. It didn't seem to deter the Manly attack who put on another try in the 20th minute when Olakau'atu was handed the ball for a ruck run to set up for the next play, by Cherry-Evans, however the big man strolled far too easily through the Tigers line and scored a ridiculously soft try. Garrick converted.

Both sides struggled to produce anything threatening at the end of their sets, while ball handling steadily worsened due to the greasy conditions, as the match wore on. After a Tom Trbojevic dropped ball, the Tigers received back-to-back set restarts. The pressure got too much for Manly as the Tigers shifted the ball right to Charlie Staines, who performed a spectacular dive to score in the corner. Brandon Wakeham converted from the sideline. At halftime Manly held a 12-6 lead.

Garrick kicked a penalty goal in the 44th minute to give Manly a 2 try buffer. Too their credit, the Tigers refused to yield and from the back of a scrum in the 56th minute, Api Koroisau ran for the line, shrugged off a tackle and crawled  his way over to score a much needed and brilliant solo try. Wakeham added the extras.

Starford To'a scored in the 64th minute when he ran straight through two atrocious tackle attempts by Manly to give the Tigers the lead. Wakeham failed to convert.

Manly reclaimed the lead in the 71st minute when a bomb by Cherry-Evans found it's way into the hands of Saab who then scored in the corner. Garrick added the extras and four minutes later, potted another penalty goal to give Manly a 22-16 victory.