News: Sea Eagles put Storm to the sword

[ManlyBacker]

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<p>Revenge is best served cold and on an appropriately chilly afternoon/evening at Brookie Oval earlier today (Sat, Aug 7) the Sea Eagles had theirs by giving their nemesis the Melbourne Storm an emphatic 26 to 6 spanking in front of an ecstatic home crowd, 12,550-strong.</p>


<a href="http://silvertails.net/news/5036-sea-eagles-put-storm-to-the-sword.html">Read the full article</a>

 

[ManlyBacker]

Manly has cruised to its 11th win of the season, making short work of modern-day rival Melbourne 26-6 at Brookvale Oval on Saturday night.

The four tries to one victory lifted the Sea Eagles back into sixth on the ladder with three games to play as well as giving most of the 12,550 home fans plenty of satisfaction.

Their opinion of their 2007 and 2008 grand final opponents was crystal clear in the Storm's first trip to Sydney's northern beaches since the salary cap rorting revelations.

The crowd jeered the visitors at every opportunity, particularly full-back Billy Slater.

The Sea Eagles never looked in trouble, jumping out to an 18-0 lead within the first half hour despite a short turnaround from defeat on Monday night and an early injury to prop Josh Perry.

Perry, set for a move to UK Super League side St Helens next season, was stretchered off in the opening exchanges with a suspected broken leg.

The win also came at the cost of New South Wales Origin back rower Anthony Watmough who strained his medial ligament in his left knee just before half-time.

Hooker Matt Ballin also left the field midway through the second term with concussion to give coach Des Hasler some potential selection headaches before next week's clash with St George Illawarra.

Perry's early injury did little to slow Manly's early momentum with the outstanding Jamie Lyon crossing for the first of his two tries in the 11th minute.

Lyon was on hand again to put winger Tony Williams over just five minutes later when the hulking winger used Slater as a speedbump on his way to a first-half try.

When Steve Matai crossed on the other side of the field on 29 minutes, the contest was as good as over.

Melbourne scored next courtesy of a familiar set play out wide for second rower Ryan Hoffman, before Williams had a chance to snare a first-half double but lost control of the ball as he dove for the corner to keep the score 18-6 at the break.

The second half started brightly for Melbourne but it could not close the gap, Manly getting back to a three-try advantage when Lyon scored his second of the night in the 50th minute by climbing over a pack of players to snare a Kieran Foran cross-field chip.

Lyon took his personal points haul to 18 by slotting a penalty goal with 20 to go to complete the scoring.

Lyon said the win was set up by some good early defence and exemplarily completion rate.

Forward Brent Kite agreed the most promising aspect was keeping the Storm's stars to just six points.

"We are well aware of our poor record at Brooky by our standards this year," he told Grandstand.

"We needed to get a win here. In the scheme of where we are on the ladder, it was really important.

"In defence we've been patch at best. We really needed to stiffen up before the finals come around and that was a good first step towards doing that."

aap abc.net.au

 

[ManlyBacker]

The Manly Sea Eagles’ aspirations of a top-four finish are now firmly back on track after they convincingly disposed of arch-rivals the Melbourne Storm 26-6 at Brookvale Oval on Saturday night.

It was feared the Sea Eagles may have blown their top-four chances after last Monday night’s forgettable loss to Newcastle, but they were clearly back on song in this game with a result that – for the time being - edges them just two points shy of fourth position.

Melbourne’s well publicised salary cap dramas and the recent history between these two sides threatened to turn this match into a heated affair, but the Storm, with no competition points to inspire them, were lethargic at best, allowing their 2007 and 2008 grand final opponents to cruise away with a comfortable win.

The Storm uncharacteristically missed 26 tackles in the first half to go to the break trailing 18-6 before Manly posted the only try in the second stanza to complete, what was, a largely uneventful match, played in front of 12,550 fans.

Co-skipper Jamie Lyon was undoubtedly the Sea Eagles’ best, scoring two tries, setting one up, and landing five goals from as many attempts.

sportal.com.au