Sea Eagles fly high to upset Panthers in Flegg
A spirited Manly Warringah Sea Eagles recorded a thrilling 16-14 win over the third-placed Penrith Panthers at 4 Pines Park tonight in round 24 of the Jersey Flegg Cup.
.Despite being out of finals contention, the Sea Eagles were still out to prove a point in a fine win for Coach Leon Latulipe and his team.
Manly were forced to fight back from a 14-4 deficit and played some entertaining football, scoring two tries in a three-minute period in the 50th minute to re-take the lead and ultimately seal the win to move further away from the bottom of the ladder.
Manly fullback Lehi Hopoate opened the scoring in the sixth minute with a sensational full-field effort, outpacing a handful of defenders to dive over in the left corner. Five-eighth Latu Fainu set the try up with a lovely pass metres out from his own line to kickstart the match in the home side’s favour with an early four-point lead.
Penrith five-eighth Blake Moore replied in the 15th minute with a try after crashing over on the right edge. Halfback Joseph Nohra converted to give his side a 6-4 lead.
Both teams traded sets at the line hoping to find enough momentum to take control of the match with the Sea Eagles coming close on two occasions. Winger Blake Metcalfe dazzled defenders with a strong run to propel the side downfield, unfortunately to no avail. At the opposite end on their own tryline, Manly defended with grit and determination to keep the visitors out for the time being.
After a back-and-forth battle and with only a minute and a half remaining in the first half, the Panthers pounced on a well-placed grubber kick to score in the left corner through winger Timothy Sielaff-Burns. The missed conversion from the sideline left Penrith with a six-point lead heading into the break.
Penrith came out of the gates flying and took just two minutes to score in the second half. Centre Wilson De Courcey crashed over after spinning out of a defenders tackle to score in the left corner, taking his sides lead out to 14-4.
An unsuccessful short drop-out from the Panthers led to a much needed try for the Sea Eagles in the 50th minute through captain Caleb Navale. The hard-hitting lock forward ran a short ball at the line off the ruck and pushed past two defenders to score under the posts. Hooker Jamie Humphreys converted from in front for a 14-10 scoreline.
The momentum swung drastically in favour of the home side as the Sea Eagles scored three minutes after their last through second-rower Broden Konz. Fainu was integral to the try, breaking through the line of defence with a strong run before offloading inside the ten-metre line to Konz who dived over untouched. Humphreys nailed the conversion to take the score to 16-14, the side's first lead since the 15th minute.
Penrith began to ramp up the pressure in the final stages, knowing they needed to make something out of nothing to seal victory. Their best efforts weren’t enough as the Sea Eagles held their own in defence, forcing the visitors to play out of their own half on multiple occasions before ultimately running the clock down to full time.
The Sea Eagles host the Dragons in Round 25 in their final home game of the season on Saturday, August 19 at 4 Pines Park from 12pm.
