Manly Warringah Sea Eagles have moved through to the preliminary finals of the Holden Cup competition.
The Sea Eagles recorded a hard fought 28-22 victory over Wests Tigers at Allianz Stadium tonight in a sudden death semi-final.
It was a real gutsy win by the Sea Eagles who lost hooker and goal-kicker Hugh Pratt with concussion in the 60th minute. The Sea Eagles will now play the North Queensland Cowboys with the venue to be advised.
The Sea Eagles opened the scoring when prop Liam Knight took a crossfield kick from five-eighth and captain Will Pearsall to score next to the posts. Pratt converted for a 6-0 lead after six minutes.
Three minutes later, Pratt delivered a perfect cut out pass for winger Kyle Saunders to dive over in the left corner. Pratt converted the try from the sideline for a 12-0 lead after 10 minutes.
Manly Warringah went to a 16-0 lead after 14 minutes when second-rower Luke Garner crashed through three defenders to score from 10 metres out.
Wests Tigers opened their account when second-rower Esan Marsters was put through a large hole to score near the posts. Lock and captain Matthew Woods converted for a 16-6 scoreline after 24 minutes.
A drop crossfield kick by winger Kyle Saunders resulted in Wests Tigers centre Marion Seve scoring to make it 16-10. Woods converted for a 16-12 scoreline.
Wests Tigers drew level when Seve crossed for his second try. Full-back Veiru Mapesone converted to give his side an 18-16 lead after 37 minutes.
The Sea Eagles bombed a try right on half-time when a cut out pass found Saunders but he dropped the ball.
Second Half
Manly Warringah regained the lead in the 43rd minute when full-back Tom Trbojevic found open space to send Garner over under the posts for his second try. Pratt converted for a 22-18 lead.
Pratt extended the lead to 24-18 in the 55th minute through a penalty goal.
Unfortunately for the Sea Eagles, Pratt left the field with concussion in the 59th minute after going down in making a tackle.
Saunders didn’t make the same mistake in the 74th minute when he dived over to score from a great offload by centre Addison Demetriou for a 28-18 lead. Demetriou failed to convert from the sideline.
Wests Tigers scored again in the 77th minute through Obeid Karwhin for a 28-22 scoreline. The Sea Eagles dug deep in defence in pouring rain in the final minutes to record a tough victory to live another day.
