The Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles have defeated the Penrith Panthers 25-24 in a pulsating 5 try to 4 encounter at Brookvale Oval on Sunday afternoon.
In a nail-biting finish, Co-Captain Jamie Lyon caught a Kieran Foran bomb, managed to offload and provide Tom Symonds a double in the corner. The dramatic 1-point victory in front of their jubilant home crowd has Manly on top of the table with one round to play.
In a fast-paced match, both sides exhibited some brutal defence and quick play early. Penrith scored 10 points in the first 12 minutes on the back of four penalties in a row. Nigel Plum crashed over close to the posts and raging centre Josh Mansour finished after a creative tap-pass from Matt Moylan in the corner.
Both sides handled the ball poorly in the first half-hour with eight errors between them. Penrith coughing up possession was all Kieran Foran needed, busting the line and passing short to Jamie Buhrer to keep the home-side in touch at 10-6.
Daly Cherry-Evans had an afternoon to forget, passing poorly. Jamie Lyon also made some poor passing decisions, throwing two intercept balls that were converted into 12 points by the Panthers.
Matt Moylan was electric when running at the line. Penrith’s million-dollar fullback made a number of line-breaks and intuitive passes, including a 60-metre break from his own 20 metre line. He assisted in three Panther tries and, in a man of the match performance, was also solid in defence.
The Panthers were running out of steam in the final 20 minutes, and Manly’s comeback looked assured in front of 18,500 vocal supporters.
When Moyland kicked a field-goal with eight minutes to go, the Panthers seemed to have secured their top four spot. But Manly prevailed, displaying the class and never-say-die attitude which now has them on top of the NRL Ladder after 25 rounds.
Celebrations were all the sweeter for Steve Matai, celebrating his 250th game for Manly, and Jason King, the soon-to-retire prop playing his final home game.
