A spirited Manly Warringah Sea Eagles recorded their fourth straight win in the Jersey Flegg Cup with a 22-10 victory over the Wests Tigers at 4 Pines Park tonight.
The Sea Eagles dominated possession in the first half to take a 12-4 lead into the break before finishing the job off nicely with dynamic young full-back Blake Metcalfe crossing for two tries.
The victory moves the Sea Eagles to 16 points and into third place on the ladder under Coach Scott Kenna. Wests Tigers dropped back to fourth. Both teams had won three of their past four matches.
The Sea Eagles were denied a try in the 20th minute to Daniel O’Donnell after the smart hooker was ruled to be held up after scooting from dummy half in an impressive 30 metre run.
Two plays later, Manly prop Devante Mihinui made sure of it when he crashed over under the posts for a 6-0 lead.
The Tigers hit back through Zakarui Clarke, reducing the margin to 6-4 when he went through on the left edge.
Manly extended their lead to 12-4 when Tylor Bunting stepped through the Tigers defence from and Blake Metcalfe loomed up on the inside to finish the job.
The Sea Eagles went to a 16-4 lead when winger Kallum Weatherall-Stacey swooped on a grubber kick to roll over to score in the corner in the 41st minute.
Wests Tigers hit back with a converted try to five-eighth Iverson Matai under the posts with 20 minutes remaining to trail 16-10.
Weatherall-Stacey then landed a 30 metre penalty goal with 14 minutes left to give Manly an 18-10 lead.
The Sea Eagles sealed victory with five minutes to go when Metcalfe got on the outside of his man to dive over for a 22-10 lead.
