Manly enjoyed a return to form last night with a 28-4 drubbing of St. George in front of 10,063 fans at Brookvale Oval. John Hopoate scored three tries for the Premiers, who had won just one of their previous five matches. St. George remained on 12 competition points, and are now in danger of missing the final series.
The match started well for the Dragons, with Adrian Brunker scoring a try in the fifth minute of the game. However, St. George would never cross the line again in a game which saw the return of Manly’s trademark defence.
Manly drew level through a try to John Hopoate, and after 18 minutes, the Sea Eagles had their first lead when Hopoate crossed again. Dismal goal kicking from Craig Field, however, limited the score to 8-4. A Craig Innes penalty goal late in the half gave Manly a 10-4 lead at the break.
The second half was all Manly, in a display in which the only flaw was goal-kicking. Field scored a superb individual try three minutes after the break, extending the Manly lead to ten points. Further tries to Hopoate and Craig Hancock saw the lead increased to an unassailable 28-4 margin.
However, it was Cliff Lyons’ try in the 80th minute which brought the loudest cheers from the crowd. After running through a gap on his own side of half-way from a scrum, Lyons put the foot down and managed to outrun his pursuers, giving Manly a 28-4 lead. Lyons was rewarded for the try by being given the conversion duties, but his kick from 10m to the right of the posts missed badly.
A number of injuries to St. George compounded their woes. Mark Coyne, Darren Treacy, Andrew Tangata-Toa and Adrian Brunker are all in doubt for next week’s game with Illawarra.
Manly survived the match unscathed in terms of injuries, although Mark Carroll was placed on report after a high tackle on Shane Kenwood.
This report ©1997 by Nick Leonard
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