Spirited Sea Eagles fight hard in Harold Matts loss
A late flurry of tries to the Canberra Raiders has seen the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles suffer a 30-14 loss at Brookvale Oval today in round three of the Harold Matthews Cup.
In a very entertaining U17s match, the Sea Eagles certainly muscled up to the undefeated Raiders with the visitors only pulling away late to seal victory. Manly remain winless after two games after having a bye in round two.
The opening 10 minutes saw the Sea Eagles manage to cross the line twice with some glistening attack. However, the strong defence from the Raiders prevailed and Manly couldn’t put any points on the board.
The away team opened the scoring with a sweeping backline, which saw the second rower Samuel Griffin slam the ball down in the corner. Braydan Darmody converted from out wide to make the score 6-0 after 12 minutes.
Manly looked destined to level the scores after centre Benjamin Keene-Okeefe stormed through the line only to be pulled down inches from the line.
The Sea Eagles got on the board through some individual brilliance from utility Joshua Weightman, who used his speed and some fancy footwork to score next to the uprights for a 6-4 scoreline after 23 minutes.
Minutes later, the Sea Eagles capitalised on their momentum scoring their second for the afternoon. A powerful run from prop FakavaleTonga saw him use his strength to spin himself round to score next to the posts. Jackson Cahill-Smith extended Manly’s lead to 10-6 on the stroke of half-time.
Immediately after half-time, the Raiders hit back through James Croker, the younger brother of Manly NRL hooker, Lachlan. The try was converted for a 12-10 lead.
Some soft defence handed the Raiders a simple converted try out wide to centre Lachlan Cunanan for an 18-10 lead in the 39th minute.
Manly hit back minutes later after Weightman darted over from dummy half for his second try. The try came off a powerful line break from Keene-Okeefe to leave the Sea Eagles trailing 18-14 in the 41st minute.
With nine minutes remaining, a second try to Cunanan saw Canberra jump to a 24-14 before big prop Thomas Handsaker fell over the line to score next to the posts for the 30-14 scoreline in the dying stages.
Manly now play Penrith Panthers at Brookvale Oval on Saturday, February 25. Kick-off 12.30pm.
