Lote Tuqiri provided the dream start and his teammates the fairytale finish as the Wests Tigers came back from the dead to beat Manly 26-22 in a Monday night thriller at the Sydney Football Stadium.

The Tigers looked gone when trailing 20-4 just before the hour mark, but four tries in 16 minutes – including Gareth Ellis’ first for the club five minutes from fulltime – capped a stunning comeback after Tuqiri had scored with his first touch in the NRL in more than seven years.

While the cheap shots and late hits looked like something from the 1970s – with three Manly players put on report for high shots and George Rose finishing the game in the sin bin – the Tigers’ skill and razzamatazz looked like something from the future.

The Sea Eagles seemed home and hosed when leading by 16 points, but on the back of a mounting penalty count and two tries within two minutes to Blake Ayshford and Liam Fulton, the Tigers were back in the hunt.

Manly regathered their composure and their discipline to halt the Tigers charge, with Chris Heighington giving away his third penalty of the night to gift Jamie Lyon an easy two points and the Sea Eagles an eight-point lead.

But the Tigers weren’t done with yet – Benji Marshall brilliant in putting Chris Lawrence over eight minutes from time before a deft Robbie Farah kick – with his non-preferred right foot – set up Ellis for the match-winner.

Tuqiri, after more than seven years in rugby union, touched down after just four minutes to give the 18,421-strong crowd hopes of a rout, but it was the opposition who soon started piling on the points.

Michael Robertson got the Sea Eagles’ first points when he reeled in a Jamie Lyon bomb on 25 minutes before Glenn Stewart and then George Rose – who defied his ample build with a deft left foot step – scored tries within five minutes of each other to all but bury the home side.

Manly discipline went out the window after the break with Keiran Foran and Brent Kite both put on report for high tackles, while Tony Williams was lucky not to find himself in the sin bin for a late hit on Fulton in the lead up to Ayshford’s try.

The Tigers comeback stunned the visitors before Manly’s frustrations boiled over when Rose was binned for a high tackle which sparked a melee on the fulltime siren.

Tuqiri admitted he was blowing pretty hard by the end of the game, while also showing concern for Manly fullback Brett Stewart who is set to miss two to six weeks with a knee injury after putting his body on the line to tackle the dual international late in the game.

As for the try, Tuqiri was still in shock.

“A dream start – I couldn’t have asked to anything more,” Tuqiri said.

“I couldn’t believe it – we called the play to go short side off the scrum, we practiced it all week, and it came off. I don’t know if I would have caught that in the 80th minute but luckily I was still fresh.”

While Tuqiri claimed he was nervous before the game, Marshall said his new teammate was more than ready for is return.

“He was jumping around telling me what to do, telling me what he wanted, telling me to make him look good, he’s just like Wendell (Sailor),” Marshall said.

“It’s like Wendell’s come back with dreads and not that big an arse.

“Every chance he got he was calling for it – I’ve got a sore left ear from him out wide.”

Coach Tim Sheens praised his side’s commitment in sticking to the gameplan.

“We came back and we started to play a bit of Wests Tigers footy which is moving the ball, even in our own half,” he said.

“We worried Manly’s edges and we got back-to-back tries and that really turned it.”

Manly coach Des Hasler admitted the game was one that got away.

“Credit to this side they clawed their way back in but at 20-4 at halftime, you don’t lose the game of footy,” Hasler said.

“But they scored some pretty spectacular tries.”

© AAP 2012

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