The Manly Sea Eagles reaffirmed their reputation as the team to beat in the NRL this season by toppling premiers the Sydney Roosters 24-16 at Brookvale Oval on Friday night.
Sitting first on the ladder heading into the clash, the Sea Eagles tamed the Roosters vaunted forward pack and showed off their class in the backline. It was the usual suspects for Manly, with fullback Brett Stewart, centre Jamie Lyon and five-eighth Kieran Foran all influencing the result.
The home side had a dream start and exploited a lopsided penalty count to storm to a 10-0 lead in the first 20 minutes. Wingers Peta Hiku and Jorge Taufua crossed for the tries – both coming after swift backline moves and poor defensive reads. The Sea Eagles were in complete control but a couple of handling errors allowed the Roosters back into the contest.
Winger Daniel Tupou went close for the visitors only to be denied by the sideline before Shaun Kenny-Dowall crossed for their first. The New Zealand international ran on to a perfectly timed short ball from Sonny Bill Williams, who came to life after a subdued start to the match.
Five-eighth James Maloney made the conversion before the Roosters crossed again after another deft short pass. This time it was halfback Mitchell Pearce delivering to second-rower Boyd Cordner, who was playing his first game for more than a month after overcoming an ankle injury.
Maloney added the extras once again to put the Roosters in front 12-10, but the Sea Eagles went into the sheds on level terms after booting a penalty goal just before the break. Both teams chanced their arms early in the second half, but it was the Sea Eagles who struck first through Stewart.
A well-executed play split the Roosters markers and gave the No.1 easy passage to the tryline to set up an 18-12 advantage. With his side needing a spark, barnstorming Roosters forward Frank-Paul Nuuausala burst through the Manly defence near halfway before off-loading to Pearce, who showed impressive speed to round Stewart and score the Bondi club’s third for the evening.
Crucially, however, Maloney missed the kick that would have levelled the game with 12 minutes remaining. The Roosters then started taking risks in the hope of conjuring another four-pointer, but a short drop-out backfired and led to Hiku scoring the match-winner for Manly late in the game.
