The Manly Sea Eagles have beaten the South Sydney Rabbitohs 14-12 in a scrappy game played in Gosford.
Manly, who were plying without Brett and Glenn Stewart, didn’t play all that will in this match. Penalties and dropped ball plagued their 80 minutes with only a few big plays late in the game giving the Sea Eagles any chance of victory.
Many were helped out by South Sydney who put in one of their worst performances in years.
Dropped ball killed the Rabbitohs. It wasn’t helped by the play of Adam Reynolds who didn’t take control of the game and whose kicking game was very poor.
South Sydney had their chances to win this game but they simply come up short every single time. Greg Inglis looked dangerous, Issac Luke was brilliant in defense, and George Burgess had a big impact up front, but overall the Rabbitoh looked like a team that has taken a step backwards.
One strange thing to come out of the game was the play of Sam Burgess in the second half. Sam started playing out wide in the backline in attack and for some reason thought he had turned into a playmaker. He threw one cutout ball over the sideline and another late in the game that really killed the Rabbitohs that went straight onto Jamie Lyon’s chest and led to the penalty that sealed the game for the Sea Eagles.
Manly didn’t play well at all in this game. Daly Cherry-Evans was named man of the match but even he didn’t play all that well. His kicking game was a big difference between the two sides but that was about it really.
Both clubs will be concerned with their play in this game. While Manly have a few players to come back from injury the Rabbitohs don’t really have any excuse.
This was a game the Rabbitohs should have won quite comfortably. The game was there for the taking and the Sea Eagles looked done. The fact that the Rabbitohs couldn’t win this game is not a good sign for a team that has their sights set on Premiership glory.
