Sea Eagles lose to Storm in Jersey Flegg
A gallant second half fightback wasn't enough to lift the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles to a Jersey Flegg Cup victory at 4 Pines Park today.
The eighth-placed Sea Eagles went down 24-16 to the fifth placed Melbourne Storm after trailing 18-4 at half-time to now sit four points outside the top five with six rounds remaining before the finals.
NSW U19s five-eighth Latu Fainu backed up for the Sea Eagles following his match against Qld in Redcliffe on Thursday night.
After soaking up an attacking raid from the Sea Eagles in the opening minute, the Storm opened the scoring with a try out wide to full-back Matthew Hill. Half-back and captain Keagan Russell-Smith converted for a 6-0 lead after seven minutes.
The Sea Eagles hit back 13 minutes from half-time when some nice hands saw winger Cameron Brown dive over in the corner. Hooker Jamie Humphreys failed to convert from the sideline for a 6-4 scoreline.
Melbourne hit back two minutes later when hooker Suliasi Prescott beat the tackle of Humphreys to find open space before beating the full-back to score an impressive 45 metre individual try under the posts. Russell-Smith converted for a 12-4 lead with eight minutes remaining before half-time.
The Storm then scored a 90 metre try when a drop ball by Manly on the attack saw Russell-Smith push off some poor defence to race 50 metres before offloading a flick pass to send Maanaima Amosa on his way to the line untouched. Russell-Smith converted for an 18-4 lead with three minutes remaining to the break.
Manly got off to a perfect start to the second half when Humphreys ran and took the line on to crash over next to the posts for a converted try to make it 18-10 four minutes after half-time.
The Sea Eagles then went in again five minutes later through centre Charlie Thompson after some magical stepping and speed from exciting full-back Lehi Hopoate after he beat several defenders from a kick. Humphreys converted to leave Manly trailing 18-16 after 46 minutes.
The Storm scored a second length of the field try when winger Amosa got on the outside of the defence to race 70 metres before offloading to Prescott for his second try. Russell-Smith converted for a 24-16 lead with eight minutes remaining.
The Sea Eagles play the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks at Pointsbet Stadium next Sunday at 11.35am.
