Last year’s minor premiers Canterbury remain at the bottom of the 2013 VB NSW Competition Table after suffering a disappointing 18-8 loss to Manly in atrocious conditions at Belmore Sports Ground.
The Bulldogs came into this Round 15 clash against Manly looking for revenge after the Sea Eagles had belted them 36-12 at Brookvale back in Round 4 and the home team had the better of the opening exchanges.
Canterbury’s left winger Brett Lane almost scored in the corner in the 10th minute but was denied by the Manly defence and touch judge putting his left foot on the touchline as he crossed.
Despite having the weight of possession and better field position in the wet weather the Doggies were unable to convert pressure into points and it was Manly who opened the scoring in the 18th minute.
Manly and NSW Under 20’s fullback Clinton Gutherson justified his promotion from Holden Cup when he showed great footwork and speed in the wet to score a wonderful solo try from 35 metres out in the corner.
Eagles five-eighth Dane Chisholm nailed the crucial sideline conversion to give them a 6-0 lead against the run of play.
Although Lane came close again in the 23rd minute on the end of the Bulldogs pet play in attack he wouldn’t be denied a third time three minutes later when former City Origin representative player Kris Keating combined with his backrower Paul Carter down the blindside to send the winger over in the grandstand corner.
Centre Ryan Wilson hooked the conversion to the left of the upright so the Sea Eagles held on to a slender 6-4 lead.
In the 33rd minute Lane went from hero to villain when he made a meal of a Manly grubber kick in his own in-goal spilling the ball and his opposite winger, former Cowboy Ben Farrar, whose uncle Andrew Farrar was a Bulldogs great back in the 1980’s, pounced on the ball to extend their lead to 10-4 at the break.
Fresh from a bye last week, Manly started the second stanza stronger than Canterbury coming close to scoring twice in the opening few minutes.
But it was a case of third time lucky for the Eagles in the 46th minute when they put on a sneaky play down the blindside involving their left side backs and winger Jackson Williams burst into the clear, stepped the Bulldogs fullback Drury Low and raced around to score under the posts for an easy conversion for Chisholm.
The Eagles went further ahead to 18-4 in the 54th minute when Chisholm landed a penalty goal from 12 metres out after Canterbury hooker Moses Mbye, who had been one of the Bulldogs best, was penalised and placed on report.
Despite statistically having the worst attack and defence in the competition, Coach Luke Williamson’s men handled the tough conditions better with a superior kicking game from their halves and played smarter wet weather football than the Bulldogs whose hands and feet failed them on numerous occasions trying to peg back the 14 point deficit.
Wests Tigers bound prop Martin Taupau tried valiantly to spark the Doggies with some powerful runs but Canterbury received a double blow in the 73rd minute when unlucky Lane was denied again on the back of a long Low break and five-eighth Keating came off injured.
However two minutes later the Bulldogs fans who braved the miserable weather got a glimmer of hope when Jack Littlejohn’s crossfield kick was beautifully regathered by Holden Cup tryscoring machine John Sila and he slid over in the corner to reduce the margin to 18-8.
Wilson missed his second sideline conversion.
Sila almost scored a double in the final minute of play but dropped
the ball burrowing over the line so Manly held on for a well deserved ten point victory in the dour battle between the two bottom of the table teams.
This weekend Manly will head back to Brooky to take on Windsor this Saturday while the Dogs head up the F3 to face the Roos.
Manly Sea Eagles 18 (C Gutherson, B Farrar, J Williams tries; D Chisholm 3 goals) def. Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 8 (B Lane, J Sila tries) at Belmore Sports Ground.
Click here to see the VB NSW Cup Ladder after Round 15
Click here to see the other results from Round 15 of the VB NSW Cup
Article source: http://au.eurosport.com/rugby-league/lunt-sticking-with-england_sto3792060/story.shtml
Manly far too strong for the Bulldogs
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