2021 NRL Round 25, Cowboys 18 Sea Eagles 46 – Report

Chloe Schibeci reviews Manly Warringah’s quest for a top four finish. Here’s how the game went.

SCOREBOARD

Player of the Year Points

3 pts – Tom Trbojevic (Manly Warringah Sea Eagles)
2 pts – Reuben Garrick (Manly Warringah Sea Eagles)
1 pt – Jake Trbojevic (Manly Warringah Sea Eagles)

MATCH REPORT

1st Half

The first points of the game came from the North Queensland Cowboys after just three minutes. The try came from an intercepted ball by Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, who ran the length of the field to score for the Cowboys. 

Both sides were looking good in both defence and attack; however, the Sea Eagles weren’t able to claim their first points of the game until the 14th minute when Jason Saab won a contest for the ball against the Cowboys’ Murray Taulagi, catching and grounding the ball off a kick from Daly Cherry-Evans. 

The first half was a solid contest between the two sides, keeping the score to just six a-piece. Both the Cowboys and the Sea Eagles were defending with great strength to prevent more points from being scored by their opposition. 

No more points were scored until three minutes left in the half, where Manly’s brotherly duo of Jake and Tom Trbojevic scored back-to-back tries. The first of these two tries came from Jake Trbojevic, who was on the receiving end of a clean pass from his brother who broke free from the Cowboys’ defence.

The second of these two last-minute tries came from Tom Trbojevic, who once again broke through the Cowboys’ defence; however, he made the tryscoring a one-man show, making it all the way to the in-goal himself, extending the Sea Eagles’ lead by 12 points as they went into the break. 

HALF-TIME: North Queensland Cowboys 6 Manly Warringah Sea Eagles 18

2nd Half

The second half started with a strong hit back from the Cowboys, who were desperate to close the gap after two late tries in the first half that gave Manly a 12-point lead, despite it being six points a-piece close to half time. The try from Jordan McLean definitely gave North Queensland the confidence boost the needed to get themselves back into the game. 

Manly came close to scoring a few times in the minutes following, however the defensive effort from the Cowboys didn’t give them optimal chances to execute. 

The Sea Eagles looked close to scoring until an intercepted ball, whereafter once again Manly were defending their own line. 

A kick from Cherry-Evans looked to be going dead, however Haumole Olakau’atu chased the ball down, and managed to throw it back into the field of play and into the hands of Jake Trbojeivc, who scored Manly’s fourth try of the night, extending their lead to 12 points once again. 

A few minutes later, a North Queensland try was sent to the Bunker. Successfully, Ben Condon scored a lucky try. The contest was heating up with the Cowboys only six points down.

With 10 minutes left in the contest, a deep cross-field kick from Cherry-Evans found the hands of winger Reuben Garrick, whose try made a comeback look harder for the Cowboys to muster. 

Manly weren’t done yet, scoring three tries in the final five minutes to secure their top four finals spot, defeating the Cowboys by 28 points.  

FULL-TIME: North Queensland Cowboys 18 Manly Warringah Sea Eagles 46

Injuries

to be advised

Match Review Committee

to be advised

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