Media Reports

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WESTS TIGERS LOSE 22-18 TO MANLY IN NRL
By Wayne Cousins, Bluetongue Stadium
9/03/2012 9:22:17 PM

Wests Tigers suffered a 22-18 loss to Premiers Manly Sea Eagles at Bluetongue Stadium tonight in round 2 of the Telstra Premiership.

The loss of England Test second-rower Gareth Ellis almost immediately after half-time with a corked thigh was a crushing blow to Wests Tigers who dominated the half effort. It left Wests Tigers with a three man bench as Manly ran in 14 points in 8 minutes to turn the game on its head in front of a crowd of 17, 532.

Wests Tigers will be hoping Ellis won’t be out for too long after losing Australian Test prop Keith Galloway after round 1 for 4-6 weeks with a toe injury.

The opening 10 minutes saw both sides soften each other with no real attacking chances.

Wests Tigers full-back Tom Humble made a great one on one tackle on runaway second-rower Tony Williams in the 15th minute. The next play,
Wests Tigers scrambled well in defence to tackle Manly on the last tackle just five metres from their own tryline.

The first real attacking opportunity for Wests Tigers inside Manly’s quarter saw the ball go dead from a Benji Marshall grubber kick behind the defensive line in the 18th minute.

A drop ball by Manly forward Darcy Lussick gave Wests Tigers a scrum feed 40 metres out. Wests Tigers took advantage when Marshall held up the ball to give a short pass to second-rower Adam Blair to find open space to score behind the posts for his first try for Wests Tigers.

Marshall converted the try to give Wests Tigers a 6-0 lead after 27 minutes.

A penalty goal to Marshall in the 30th minute from in front of the posts gave Wests Tigers an 8-0 lead after hooker and captain Robbie Farah darted from dummy half to catch the Manly marker offside.

Manly received a soft penalty inside the final 30 seconds after Chris Heighington was penalised for taking out Darcy Lussick when the penalty could have been given to Wests Tigers for a shepherd. Lyon converted the penalty attempt from 35 metres out to leave Manly trailing 8-2 at half-time.

2nd Half
Manly got back to 8-6 in the 43rd minute when half-back Daly Cherry-Evans held up a short ball for prop Jason King to score next to the posts. Lyon converted the try for an 8-all scoreline.

Wests Tigers suffered a major blow when international second-rower Gareth Ellis suffered a major cork to his left thigh and left the field immediately after the try.

Lyon converted a penalty goal two minutes later after Wests Tigers were caught offside to give Manly a 10-8 lead.

Cherry-Evans then sprinted 60 metres after getting on the outside of centre Chris Lawrence to score under the posts. Lyon converted the try to give Manly a 16-8 lead.

Williams extended the lead to 20-8 when he steamrolled Farah to score under the posts in the 58th minute. Lyon converted the try for a 22-8 scoreline.

A Marshall grubber kick behind the line saw winger Beau Ryan dive on the ball to score in the 68th minute for a 22-12 scoreline. Marshall did not convert the try.

Wests Tigers got back to 22-16 with 4 minutes remaining when a grubber kick by Farah saw the ball thrown back in by Lawrence for utility back Joel Reddy to score his first try for the Club. Marshall converted the try to leave Wests Tigers trailing 22-18.

However Manly held on to take the two points.

Wests Tigers: 1 Tom Humble, 2 Beau Ryan, 3 Blake Ayshford, 4 Chris Lawrence, 5 Matt Utai, 6 Benji Marshall, 7 Tim Moltzen, 8 Aaron Woods
9 Robbie Farah ©, 10 Matt Groat, 11 Adam Blair, 12 Gareth Ellis, 3 Chris Heighington; Interchange: 14 Liam Fulton, 15 Junior Moors, 17 Joel Reddy, 18 Ben Murdoch-Masila.

 

[Guest]

Manly fight back to beat Tigers 22-18
Ian McCullough
March 9, 2012 - 10:59PM

AAP

Des Hasler may have moved on, but the resolve and refusal to buckle in the face of adversity still very much remains at Manly as the defending NRL premiers came from behind to edge out Wests Tigers 22-18 at Gosford on Friday night.

The Sea Eagles only returned home from a bruising encounter against the Warriors in Auckland late on Sunday night where they lost Steve Matai and Glenn Stewart for this game due to injury.

It was not the ideal way to prepare for a clash with the premiership favourites, and after going in at halftime 8-2 down and very much on the back foot, it looked as if their arduous trip across the Tasman would come back to hurt them.

The Tigers also had a short turnaround following their golden-point win over Cronulla last Sunday, and after a slow start to the game, opened the scoring when an ecstatic Adam Blair raced over in the 28th minute after taking advantage of a superb decoy run from Chris Lawrence.

Blair was at the centre of the Battle of Brookvale last season as a Melbourne player against Manly when he and Stewart traded blows on the sideline after being sin-binned.

A Benji Marshall penalty from close range stretched the Tigers' lead just before halftime, but Manly closed the gap with two points of their own from Jamie Lyon with the last play of the half.

It followed a dubious penalty call against Chris Heighington for tackling Daly Cherry-Evans without the ball that infuriated Tim Sheens' side.

The Tigers started the second half in the worst possible way with key backrower Gareth Ellis limping off after sustaining a badly corked thigh when tackling Anthony Watmough in the first play after the interval.

Fullback Tom Humble then spilt a regulation high ball right in front of his own posts and Manly skipper Jason King rumbled his way to the line for a rare try.

Lyon then converted a close-range penalty before Cherry-Evans capped off a brilliant 10-minute spell as he demonstrated his class with a magnificent long-range try.

The young halfback threw two dummies to wrong-foot the Tigers defence and race 60 metres to the line.

Geoff Toovey's side were very much now on top as the Tigers looked a pale shadow of their first half performance.

Manly sealed the points with a third try from Tony Williams when the giant backrower steamrollered his way past Robbie Farah to score with Lyon adding the extras to make the score 22-8.

The Tigers rallied well late with Beau Ryan and Joel Reddy scoring tries to set up a nail-biting finish, but the Sea Eagles held on to make it two victories from their opening two games.

Lyon kicked five goals for the hosts with Marshall converting three for the Tigers.

Toovey was full of praise for the character shown by his side and said despite being behind at halftime he was confident his players could still win the game.

"I am very proud of the boys and the way we came out in the second half, we were very gutsy," Toovey said.

"I thought we dominated the first half. A few things went against us but I thought we were the better side and were only behind by six points and always knew we could come back.

"Beating the Tigers, who are a very tough team, is great. They are the premiership favourites but it is round two, there's a long way to go."

Kieran Foran and Cherry-Evans were in superb form for the Sea Eagles but Toovey was keen to play down their impressive displays and said there was more to come from them.

"They're quality halves and like any club, they are vital to the team," he said.

"But they are still learning and improving. We lost some great internationals in Steve Matai and Glenn Stewart and everyone needed to step up and we did that."

Tigers coach Tim Sheens offered no excuses for his team's poor start to the second half but conceded the loss of Ellis hurt.

"It was a very good first half of footy from both teams but the first 15 minutes of the second we were careless," Sheens said.

"A lot of our errors were self-inflicted, we dropped a lot of ball, missed tackles and didn't complete.

"We lost Gareth which hurt us and then the dropped ball for the try and we are up against it."

To compound the Tigers' miserable evening, winger Matt Utai will be sidelined for up to six weeks with medial ligament damage in his right knee.

 

[Guest]

Sea Eagles turn the tide on Tigers

Updated March 09, 2012 22:57:01

A determined Manly piled on 20 points in under 20 minutes after half-time to defeat the Tigers 22-18 in an exciting contest in Gosford on Friday night.

The Tigers led 8-2 after the first 40 minutes before Manly unleashed three converted tries and a penalty to skip out to an amazing 22-8 lead.

Jason King, Daly Cherry-Evans and Tony Williams all crossed the line after costly handling and defensive errors by the Tigers.

The Tigers rallied well late with Ryan and Reddy scoring tries to set up a nail-biting finish, but the Sea Eagles held on to make it two victories from their opening two games.

Manly five-eighth Kieran Foran indicated coach Geoff Toovey would have been pleased with Manly's 89 per cent completion rate in the second half.

"Toovs just said we had to focus on completing [our sets] better and staying in the game," he told Grandstand.

"We just went away from it in the first half.

"He said just go out there and match their energy and the time will come and it did early on."

To compound the Tigers' miserable evening, winger Matt Utai will be sidelined for up to six weeks with medial ligament damage in his right knee.

Key back rower Gareth Ellis also limped off never to return after sustaining a badly corked thigh when tackling Anthony Watmough in the first play after the interval.

Tigers coach Tim Sheens offered no excuses for his team's poor start to the second half, but conceded the loss of Ellis hurt.

"It was a very good first half of footy from both teams, but the first 15 minutes of the second we were careless," Sheens said.

"A lot of our errors were self-inflicted, we dropped a lot of ball, missed tackles and didn't complete.

"We lost Gareth which hurt us and then the dropped ball for the try and we are up against it."
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Short turnaround

The Sea Eagles only returned home from a bruising encounter against the Warriors in Auckland late on Sunday night where they lost Steve Matai and Glenn Stewart for this game with injury.

It was not the ideal way to prepare for a clash with the premiership favourites, and after going in at half-time six points down and very much on the back foot, it looked as if their arduous trip across the Tasman would come back to hurt them.

The Tigers also had a short turnaround following their golden-point win over Cronulla last Sunday, and after a slow start to the game, opened the scoring when an ecstatic Adam Blair raced over in the 28th minute after taking advantage of a superb decoy run from Chris Lawrence.

Blair was at the centre of the Battle of Brookvale last season as a Melbourne player against Manly when he and Stewart traded blows on the sideline after being sin-binned.

A Benji Marshall penalty from close range stretched the Tigers' lead just before half-time, but Manly closed the gap with two points of its own from Jamie Lyon with the last play of the half.

It followed a dubious penalty call against Chris Heighington for tackling Cherry-Evans without the ball that infuriated Tim Sheens' side.

The Tigers started the second half in the worst possible way when full-back Tom Humble then spilt a regulation high ball right in front of his own posts and Manly skipper Jason King rumbled his way to the line for a rare try.

Lyon then converted a close-range penalty before Cherry-Evans capped off a brilliant 10-minute spell as he demonstrated his class with a magnificent long-range try.

The young half-back threw two dummies to wrong-foot the Tigers defence and race 60 metres to the line.

Geoff Toovey's side was very much now on top as the Tigers looked a pale shadow of their first-half performance.

Manly sealed the points with a third try from Williams when the giant backrower steamrollered his way past Robbie Farah to score with Lyon adding the extras to make the score 22-8 before a late Tigers comeback.

Foran said Williams is becoming a pivotal part of the Sea Eagles side since moving to the back row.

"He gives us so much go forward an impact," he said.

"He has just taken his game to a new level."