The Aquis Gold Coast Titans three-match winning streak has come to an end after going down 30-10 to the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles at Cbus Super Stadium tonight.
The Titans were out-enthused early by a Manly outfit that were lead superbly around the paddock by halfback Daly Cherry-Evans who caused the Titans’ left-edge nightmares setting-up two tries to give the visitors a 24-6 lead after 45 minutes of play.
The Titans looked to mount a late charge when Anthony Don scored in the 56th minute to reduce the deficit back to 24-10 but the class of the Manly outfit proved the difference with Cherry-Evans setting up Walker for his second try late in the piece to secure the win for his side.
It was the visitors who opened the scoring in the 12th minute with Cherry-Evans producing a cut-out pass to Akuila Uate to race down the Titans short-side before stepping his was around Tyrone Roberts to score under the posts giving Matt Wright an easy conversion for a 6-0 lead.
But an error from Manly on the resulting set provided the Titans a prime opportunity to hit-back and they took full advantage with Ash Taylor cleaning up the scraps of the loose ball to race away and score in the corner before converting his own try to level the scores at 6-all after 16 minutes.
Lead by Cherry-Evans, Manly continued to attack the Titans left side and they were causing real problems with Uate finding himself in the clear again in the 20th minute before drawing-and-passing to Dylan Walker to score next to the posts. With Wright adding the extras Manly took a 12-6 lead.
Manly extended their lead in the 24th minute with hooker Api Koroisau darting his way through the Titans defensive line from dummy-half before planting the ball down next to the posts to give Wright an easy conversion for a 18-6 lead.
Manly’s Frank Winterstein was sent to the sin-bin in the 27th minute after a professional foul on Konrad Hurrell who tried to take a quick-tap after receiving a penalty.
But despite the extra man and a couple of good attacking opportunities, the Titans were unable to break through the Manly defensive line and were forced to go into the half-time break trailing 18-6.
The Titans started the second-half poorly with compounding errors gifting Manly early attacking opportunity and they took advantage to extend their lead in the 46th minute. Lock-forward Jake Trbojevic supported a Curtis Sironen offload to score adjacent to the posts before Wright added the extras to give the visitors a 24-6 lead.
A penalty to the Titans swung the momentum in their favour and they capitalised with Don reeling in a Taylor grubber to score in the corner to reduce the deficit back to 24-10 with 23 minutes remaining.
The Titans had several attacking opportunities but the Manly defence held strong to keep the home-side frustrated forcing errors.
But Manly put an end to the Titans comeback efforts in the 74th minute with Cherry-Evans throwing a deft cut-out pass to a flying Walker who ran a tough line to barge his way through the defence to grab his second try of the night. With Wright adding the extras, Manly took the 30-10 victory.
The Titans have the bye next week before heading north to take on the North Queensland Cowboys in their round 13 clash.
Manly Warringah Sea Eagles 30 (D Walker 2, A Uate, A Koroisau, J Trbojevic tries; M Wright 5 goals) defeated Gold Coast Titans 10 (A Taylor, A Don tries; A Taylor 1 goals)
