Manly Warringah Sea Eagles suffered a 19-18 loss in Golden Point against the Newcastle Knights at McDonald Jones Stadium tonight in the opening round of the Telstra Premiership.
The match saw new Manly players Lachlan Croker and Joel Thompson become the 600TH and 601st players to represent the Sea Eagles since the club began in 1947.
The Knights opened the scoring in the third minute when new full-back Kalyn Ponga got on the outside of Curtis Sironen to score. He converted his own try for a 6-0 lead.
The Sea Eagles hit back four minutes later when the ball was spread through the backline for winger Jorge Taufua to crash over in the left corner. Half-back and captain Daly Cherry-Evans converted the try for a 6-all scoreline.
The next 20 minutes saw some strong physical defence and half chances from both sides.
Newcastle went to a 10-6 lead when hooker Slade Griffin dived over from dummy half to score. Ponga converted for a 12-6 lead after 33 minutes.
On the back of two consecutive penalties in front of the posts, Manly applied the pressure and it told on the Knights when forward Shaun Lane crashed over to score. Cherry-Evans converted for a 12-all scoreline after 38 minutes. The score remained that way to half-time.
Manly took a 16-12 lead in the 51st minute when centre Brian Kelly got the ball down with one hand to score in the left corner. Cherry-Evans failed to convert the try from the sideline.
However the Sea Eagles conceded a try on the fifth tackle to second-rower Lachlan Fitzgibbon. Ponga converted for an 18-16 lead after 62 minutes.
Cherry-Evans converted a 40 metre penalty goal in the 77th minute to make it 18-all.
Golden Point
The Sea Eagles went into Golden Point with a record of five wins, five losses, and a draw from 11 matches.
Cherry-Evans missed a field goal attempt in the fourth minute of the first half of extra-time after a strong run by Uate on the previous tackle.
Mitchell Pearce then missed a similar attempt to leave the scores locked at the end of the first five minutes.
Cherry-Evans went for a second field goal attempt on the last tackle in the first set of the second period but the ball went wide.
Pearce then kicked the winning field goal in the final minute to record victory for the home side.
