19. Henry Raiwalui
2. Halauafu Lavaka
3. Ben Crooks
24. Nathan Davis
20. James Tuitahi
6. Ryan Matterson
7. Beau Henry
17. Mitch Stanfield
9. Sam Gorman
10. Moses Manu
11. Cody Nelson
12. Nick Kassis
13. Joseph Ualesi
Interchange:
14. Jack Madden
15. Fred Pakutoa
18. Blake Cook
25. Stephen Howard
Four debutants for Wenty as Nathan Davis, James Tuitahi, Blake Cook and Stephen Howard come into the team. Henry Rawalui is another late inclusion in a vastly different Wenty team from the one originally named.
Replies
Wetny receive the ball in the first half as Moses Manu - sporting a new look with a headgear - gets first run.
Good opening effort from the home team as they get 15m into Manly's half allowing Henry space for an attacking bomb. The wind has swung around between the games though and it is now a fairly stiff headwind for Wenty so the bomb perhaps doesn't go as deep as intended. Regardless Wenty lose the pill in the contest and Manly come away with the ball.
Manly don't make too much headway in reply and get to their kick which is rounded up by Rawalui. Wenty get the first penalty of the day when Sam Gorman is held down after a dummy half scoot.
Ualesi hets first run, Stnafield follows. Henry spins the ball to Crooks down the right but he is well tackled. A quick left edge movement follows and good work from Matterson and Rawalui gets Davis 1-on-1 and he slices though for first blood!
The conversion is unsuccessful.
Parra lead Manly 4-0
6min gone.
Unintentional short kick off me thinks from Manly as Davis heads back to field it. Good run and offload from Ualesi - it opens up play for Henry who fires a cutout ball to Tuitahi down the right who gets a healthy 20m gain. Henry gets caught to bring up the last so Matterson races down the right edge on the last and rolls the grubber in. It gets a wicked bounce up for the Manly fullback and springs free of his grasp to fall obligingly for debutant James Tuithai who scores! Make that two for the new boys.
The conversion is successful.
Wenty extend their lead to 10-0
9min gone.
Rawalui to Stanfield from this kick off. Nelson and Manu gets runs to their names before Matterson dummies and runs it down the left edge.
Henry takes it to the right where Crooks makes a half break. Good run through two defenders there. Henry then shapes up for a bomb and the chasers pour through as Wenty smell blood but they are perhaps over eager in the contest and the ref signals a Wenty knock on.
Plenty of fire in the defence now but it draws the ire of the official as he penalises Wenty in the ruck.
Good tackle from Kassis but he gets pinged for taking too long to clear the ruck and now the pushing and shoving begins as tensions peak. It doesn't escalate beyond that though as Manly go on to find touch 30m of the Wenty goal line.
Cody Nelson makes a good tackle on the Manly 5/8 as he runs a slant down our right edge. The visitors then centre the ball before going back to our right. Tuitahi has given his opposite, David Williams a bit of space but he has rounded him up into touch pretty well. Hang on? Really? Oh wow. The touchy hasn't raised his flag and the ref awards a try. I am astonished there. Cody Nelson is too as he has a lengthy chat with the referee. Diabolical call.
The conversion is unsuccessful.
Manly trail 4-10
14min gone.
Tempo in the game lifts now as both team go at it. Good standard of footy in this set as Manly complete it with a kick that flirts with the sideline but just stays in the field of play before rolling into touch 15m off Wenty's line.
Play breaks down for Wenty early in the set as a pass foes astray but Matterson salvages the play and gets the ball away to Davis who breaks clean through! He flies 40m downfield and busts through several tackles. Play then goes down our right where Henry throws the long ball to Crooks who links up with Tuitahi who then guns it for the try line but is bundled into touch by Williams.
Good set of defence by Wenty and it sees Rawalui field the clearing kick on the full. Wenty play it up the middle before there are two minor shifts to the left edge. The latter involves Henry rolling the ball in behind to finish the set.
Manly ruck it out to halfway with Cody Nelson making a terric tackle on Manly's left centre to bring up the last. Rawalui takes the bomb with ease and Lavaka provides a great ruck run for Wenty. Ualesi follows to set up an early kick for Matterson who aims for a 40/20. Hit pretty sweetly but Reardon has it covered for the Sea-Eagles and watches it roll into touch 3m shy of the 20m mark.
Clean break for Tony Santini for Manly now. Not sure what happened there but Rawalui brings him down.
Manly then look for a quick spread to their right but Kassis shoots up and makes a very good jam. They come back to the posts where they are held up so play goes out to the 10m mark and it falls apart from there for the visitors as they is a stupidly obvious shepherd that is immediately called.
Henry hoofs it down field and play resumes over halfway. Fair kick there.
Nelson takes the first carry now. Gorman uses Moses Manu next and he offloads to Kassis. Gorman has a run next and Pakutoa, fresh on, has a run but after that there is an error from the home team so play stops for a scrum on the Manly 10m mark.
Well that was far too easy as Jayden Hodges jumps out of dummy half and turns the ball inside to Delroy Berryman. He sprints clean through and then embarrasses Rawalui as he scorches past him to score an eighty metre meat pie. Kassis gave chase there but he was never going to reel him in.
The conversion is unsuccessful from just to the left of the posts.
Manly trail Wenty 8-10
26min gone.
Opportunities for Manly now as they open us up the middle via an offload to the fullback Reardon. A penalty follows as Wenty slow the ruck down so Manly head further down field.
Ben Crooks makes a good tackle on Santini so Manly have one tackle to set up for the last. They use a settler and attack us on the right via a short side play. Wenty hold up Reardon for an age and it is surely a turnover but he allows play to drag on for some reason and Hodges ends up reefing the ball out of Reardon's hands and diving over the line. The tackle had no momentum and he was held up for a lonnnnng time so that is a bizarre call.
Again the easy conversion is missed.
Manly narrowly claim the lead at 12-10
30min gone.
Better effort in defence this set. Wenty pin Manly in their half for the clearance kick, which Rawalui takes before he draws a penalty for a pretty lazy flop from a Manly defender.
Kassis rolls the ball up the middle before Pakutoa gets a carry down the right edge. Madden jumps out of dummy half but can't link up with Nelson down the right and Henry takes the complete wrong option on the last when he uses Kassis on a crash line on the last.
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