The Australian Power & Gas Balmain Ryde-Eastwood Tigers have capitalised on last week's good form by recording a comprehensive 40-12 victory over the Manly Sea Eagles at Leichhardt Oval on Saturday.
Manly were first to settle into the match & in the opening minutes they put plenty of pressure on the Tigers, spending a good amount of time in their 20m zone.
Finally after 14 minutes Manly centre Mick McDougall scored in the left hand corner, finding the defence short & finishing off a good backline movement. Hooker Liam Foran didn't convert & they led 4-0.
With 18 minutes to go Tigers five eighth Jake Mullaney crossed under the posts after halfback Nathan Waters was put into a gap down the left hand side & he made 20m before drawing the fullback & offloading to Mullaney in support on the inside. Fullback Sean Meaney converted to lead 6-4.
4 minutes later Tigers' winger Sam Latu scored in the left hand corner touching down on a clever grubber kick from hooker George Ndaira. Meaney didn't convert & the score was 10-4.
3 minutes later Tiger's winger Ratu Tagive scored in the right hand corner after they showed good hands across the backline & centre Joel Wisbey somehow squeezed out an offload in traffic to a waiting Tagive to touch down. Meaney's conversion attempt hit the upright & they were now ahead 14-4.
With 4 minutes to go Meaney crossed under the posts after a great ball from lock Matthew Hyland allowed Meaney to slice through the right hand side defence 30m out & from there he had a clear run to the line. His conversion gave the Tigers a 20-4 lead at half time.
The Tigers seemed to draw inspiration from their first half performance as it only took 2 minutes of play for their next score. Replacement Andrew Pearn crossed out wide after busting through the defence 45m out from Manly's line off a simple hitup & with sheer determination he kept charging ahead until he reached the tryline taking a few defenders across with him. Meaney converted to extend the lead to 26-4.
8 minutes later Manly winger Ben Shorter scored in the left hand corner after a horrible 15m goal line dropout gifted them good field position & in that set they moved the ball to the right where they saw an overlap for Shorter to slide over. Foran couldn't convert & the score was 26-8.
9 minutes later McDougall notched his double out wide after the Sea Eagles were brought down short of the line on the right hand side & on the next ruck quickly swung it back to the left for McDougall to cross between defenders. Foran's off day with the boot continued as he failed to convert & that left the score 26-12.
With 9 minutes to go Mullaney notched his double scoring in the right hand corner after he put on a good show-and-go then displayed a blistering turn of speed to accelerate through a gap & leave defenders clutching at air. Meaney hit the upright for the second time & the score was 30-12.
4 minutes later centre Jake Clarke crossed out wide after Meaney put second rower Jason Schirnack through a yawning gap & he showed great skills to offload a terrific ball to Clarke who had the presence of mind to be able to reach out & plant the ball before the tackle was completed. Meaney's conversion extended the lead to 36-12.
With1 minute to go Ndaira scored in the left hand corner when he put in a hopeful grubber kick from dummy half close to Manly's line on the last tackle & in the ensuing confusion of arms & legs he found a way to touch down on the loose ball. Meaney wasn't able to convert & at full time the Tigers' 40-12 win was never in doubt.
Next week the Tigers embark on the road trip challenge, travelling to a chilly Auckland on Saturday 21 May to take on the Auckland Vulcans & after this week's solid performance the team is quietly confident of inflicting another upset on the form team of the competition. Kickoff is at 1pm NZ time. See you there!
**MATCH FACTS**
Balmain Ryde-Eastwood 40 (Jake Mullaney 2, Sam Latu, Ratu Tagive, Sean Meaney, Andrew Pearn, Jake Clarke, George Ndaira tries; Meaney 4 goals) d Manly 12 (Mick McDougall 2, Ben Shorter tries) at Leichhardt Oval.
