Manly compounded Canberra Raiders’ early-season misery with a comprehensive 32-16 victory at Lottoland (Brookvale Oval) today, scoring four tries before the break to establish a 26-6 lead at half-time before going on to win 32-16 for their second victory of the season.
The Raiders had come into the game off the back of three narrow defeats by a combined total of five points, and they scored the first try of the game through former St Helens star Sia Soliola.
But the Sea Eagles hit back to score four tries in the first half through one each to the Trbojevic brothers, Jacob and Tom, as well as Daly Cherry-Evans and Matthew Wright.
Cherry-Evans added an early second-half penalty before the Raiders rallied with tries to Jarrod Croker and Jack Wighton to bring the score to 28-16 on 57 minutes, giving them a glimmer of hope.
But when Wright scored his second try six minutes later that was effectively the end of the Raiders’ chances of securing two points and if Parramatta can beat Wests Tigers on Monday they will find themselves alone at the bottom of the NRL ladder.
Sea Eagles: 1 Tom Trbojevic, 2 Matthew Wright, 3 Brad Parker, 4 Brian Kelly, 5 Akuila Uate, 6 Lachlan Croker, 7 Daly Cherry-Evans (c), 8 Addin Fonua-Blake, 9 Apisai Koroisau, 10 Martin Taupau, 11 Joel Thompson, 12 Curtis Sironen, 13 Jake Trbojevic; Interchange: 14 Jackson Hastings, 15 Shaun Lane, 16 Lloyd Perrett, 17 Kelepi Tanginoa
Tries: J Trbojevic, Tom Trbojevic, Cherry-Evans, Wright 2; Goals: Cherry-Evans 6
Raiders: 1 Jack Wighton, 2 Nick Cotric, 3 Jarrod Croker (c), 4 Joseph Leilua, 5 Jordan Rapana, 6 Aidan Sezer, 7 Sam Williams, 8 Iosia Soliola, 9 Siliva Havili, 10 Shannon Boyd, 11 Josh Papalii, 12 Elliott Whitehead, 17 Joseph Tapine; Interchange: 14 Ata Hingano, 15 Junior Paulo, 16 Dunamis Lui, 13 Luke Bateman
Tries: Soliola, Croker, Wighton; Goals: Croker 2
Full match reports of all this weekend’s NRL games will feature in Monday’s League Express.
