Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles have moved back inside the NSW Cup top five following an impressive 32-12 victory over the NZ Warriors in Auckland tonight.
With one round remaining and the top five teams contesting the finals, Blacktown Workers have moved from seventh place to third place on 30 points subject to weekend results.
Blacktown Workers play the fourth placed Bulldogs next Friday night at Belmore Sports Ground. The Bulldogs play the fifth place Canberra this weekend with both teams on 29 points.
It was a dominant display by Blacktown Workers over the second-place Warriors at Daniel Anderson Stadium.
The Warriors were denied a try in the third minute for a shepherd before centre Viliami Vailea was held up in three-man tackle four minutes later.
After soaking up the early defensive pressure, Manly opened up the scoring when hooker Gordon Chan Kum Tong burrowed over from dummy half to score under posts. Five-eighth Jamie Humphreys converted for a 6-0 lead after 15 minutes.
Clayton Faulalo extended the lead to 12-0 in the 25th minute when the ball bounced in his arms off a Warriors player from a Humphreys kick.
Warriors half-back Ronald Volkman then lost the ball in trying to score under the posts five minutes later.
The Sea Eagles punished the Warriors for the mistake when a nice backline play to the left saw winger Ryan Garner score out wide. Humphreys converted for an 18-0 lead after 34 minutes.
A great cut out pass from full-back Jake Toby sent centre Brad Abbey over in corner for a 22-0 lead after 48 minutes.
Three minutes later, leading NSW Cup Faulalo added to his tally after scoring off a Humphreys grubber for a 26-0 lead.
The Warriors got on the board in the 58th minute when second-rower Jacob Laban scored off a bomb for a 26-6 scoreline.
NSW Cup: Blacktown's big win over Warriors
Faulalo grabbed his third try when Garner put through a kick in running for the centre to catch the ball to score for a 32-6 lead after 69 minutes.
Garner was placed on report and sent to the sin bin with four minutes to go for a lifting tackle that resulted in a melee.
The Warriors scored two minutes from full-time with a try to Volkman next to the posts for a 32-12 scoreline.
