The Auckland Nines brought Trent Barrett despair. His first outing as an NRL coach will bring recurring nightmares after his Sea Eagles were thumped 28-6 by an impressive Canterbury side in front of 16,512 at Brookvale Oval on Friday night.
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Sea Eagles go down at Brookvale
The Manly Sea Eagles have suffered a 28-6 defeat to the Bulldogs at Brookvale in Trent Barrett's first NRL game as head coach. The Bulldogs piled on 22 points in the first half, with Jorge Taufua scoring the only try for Manly in the 26 point loss.
Josh Reynolds and halves partner Moses Mbye starred, having been afforded the luxury of playing behind an explosive forward pack led by props James Graham, Sam Kasiano and Aiden Tolman.
After an inconsistent 2015 which he saw him lose his NSW Origin jersey, Reynolds laid on two tries and directed the team around the park as he looked to take control following the off-season departure of halves partner Trent Hodkinson.
Mbye laid on two tries of his own in a polished performance. As much as Canterbury's halves flourished, Manly's new-look combination of Daly Cherry-Evans and Dylan Walker struggled behind a badly beaten forward pack. Â
To compound the Sea Eagles' woes, Steve Matai [high tackle] and Martin Taupau [shoulder charge] were placed on report. Bulldogs centre Chase Stanley [hamstring] did not return after half-time and teammate Michael Lichaa [knee] limped from the field with 15 minutes remaining, in what was his first game back from an ankle injury that ended his 2015 season prematurely.
The injuries forced a major reshuffle and stifled the Bulldogs' attack late in the game. While Barrett labelled the Auckland Nines "dangerous" and "risky", he may have had a few more choice words to direct at his charges in his first game since taking over from Geoff Toovey.
Fundamental errors cruelled a Manly side which featured eight new recruits including representative players Taupau, Lewis Brown, Nate Myles and Dylan Walker. Canterbury raced to a 22-0 half-time lead, with their first error occurring after 20 minutes. In contrast, the Sea Eagles found themselves on the backfoot with simple handling errors despite being on the attack early with three consecutive sets in good field position.Â
Knock-ons by Jorge Taufua and Brayden Wiliame inside the Sea Eagles red zone gifted possession to Canterbury and the Bulldogs pounced. Mbye and Reynolds combined on the short side, to create an overlap with Reynolds drawing Taufua in to allow Sam Perrett to score the first try after 11 minutes.
Reynolds would have a hand in the next Bulldogs points, when a short grubber ended up in the in-goal before Brown flung a wild boot – missing the ball – allowing Will Hopoate to sneak in before the dead ball line and score a try in his Bulldogs debut.
A Lichaa dummy half pass allowed Kasiano to barge over before Josh Morris scored the final try of the first half.
Manly improved a little in the second half but failed to find their rhythm.Â
Manly broke their points drought in the 66th minute via a Taufua try before Curtis Rona continued his rich vain of try scoring form, which saw him cross 24 times from 25 games last year, with a 73rd minute try.Â
An Mbye penalty goal completed the scoring for the away side.Â
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