Expert
Manly Sea Eagles 28
South Sydney Rabbitohs 8
An incredibly one-sided game at Brookvale Oval has seen the Manly Sea Eagles record a 20-point win to keep their season alive over the South Sydney Rabbitohs.
South Sydney took a penalty goal in the fifth minute, but apart for some brief moments having the Sea Eagles under some pressure, the Bunnies were never in the contest.
The Sea Eagles controlled possession throughout the game, making very few errors, and the Rabbitohs helped their cause giving away penalties at crucial times and making silly errors with the ball.
Daly Cherry-Evans played absolutely fantastically, while Brett Stewart, Willie Mason, Jamie Lyon, Jake Trbojevic and Brett Stewart were also among the best on ground.
The try-scoring opened in the eighth minute, after the Sea Eagles received a penalty, and after some good play down the left-hand side Trbojevic marched over.
The 17th minute saw the first of Peta Hiku’s tries, with the second coming in the 35th minute. Both were down the right side and were the result of poor defensive reads from the Rabbitohs, and some great long balls from Stewart and Lyon.
At halftime the score read Sea Eagles 14–2 Rabbitohs.
It took over 20 minutes for the first try of the second half, as the Sea Eagles slowly wore the Rabbitohs down with constant barrages of Bunnies’ line. The eventual try was Hiku’s third for the evening, again off the brilliant work of Lyon who received the ball from Cherry-Evans.
The final try for the Sea Eagles came with five minutes to go, as Trbojevic got his second for the night with a classic barge-over, which was well set up by Matt Ballin taking the initiative to dart out of dummy half.
The Rabbitohs pinched a consolation try, their first for the evening, in the last couple of minutes as Alex Johnston went over in the right-hand corner.
A great win for the Sea Eagles to keep their season alive.
The Manly Sea Eagles will aim to keep their finals hopes alive when they host the South Sydney Rabbitohs. Join The Roar for live coverage of this Round 22 clash from 7:30pm (AEST).
The Sea Eagles have really turned a corner in recent weeks, winning five from their last seven games, including a dominant victory over the Warriors in New Zealand, and a surprising win over the competition-leading Brisbane Broncos on the Central Coast last weekend.
Manly have moved to 11th on the competition table, on 20 points. With five games to go, the Sea Eagles can ill afford to drop another game and this will have them fired up for the clash against the Rabbitohs.
The Rabbitohs have been firing on all cylinders recently, with big wins over the St George Illawarra Dragons and the Newcastle Knights, but they only just managed to survive against the Penrith Panthers last week.
The Rabbitohs travel to Brookvale with an unchanged line-up from the Penrith game, despite questions remaining over the fitness of Kyle Turner (concussion).
Jason Clark has been added as the 18th man for coverage.
The Sea Eagles welcome back centre Steve Matai from a concussion he picked up against the Warriors a fortnight ago, with Jake Trbojevic dropping back to New South Wales Cup.
This game will be won in the halves, with four of the most talented players in the competition – Adam Reynolds and Luke Keary for the Rabbitohs, and Daly Cherry-Evans and Kieran Foran for the Sea Eagles – facing off.
Prediction
The Rabbitohs weren’t impressive last week, and Manly just want this a little more.
Manly to keep their season alive by 8.
Join The Roar for live coverage of this clash from 7:30pm (AEST) and let us know your thoughts on the match in the section below.