Winger Jacob Woodhouse was excellent in difficult conditions for Manly
Photo: seiserphotography.com

by Brendan Bradford –

It was a classic case of one side making the most of its limited opportunities in atrocious conditions as Manly earned a five try to two, 33-14 win over Parramatta to exact revenge for a shock loss to the Two Blues back in round three. Getting out to a 5-0 lead after just a couple of minutes, Manly dominated the rest of the game as Parramatta misfired in the wet for the second week in succession.

“We started quite well and scored a few tries on turnover ball,” said Manly coach Phil Blake.

“Obviously you don’t get too many opportunities on days like this, but we were able to captialise on those that were presented and that probably held the key to our success today. Kick long and chase hard is about all you can do in these sorts of conditions, and in defence, just man up. That was as simple as the game-plan was.”

With eight players out injured and playing in conditions ill-suited to their preferred style of play, Parramatta coach Glen Christini said the scoreline didn’t reflect the way his side contested the game.

“We lost our patience on a couple of occasions which really cost us,” said Christini.

“In terms of our overall performance, I was actually pretty stoked, but a couple of silly little moments when we had to just kick the ball long really did it. We play high risk football and to take it out of our game for 80-minutes is a big ask. I just would’ve loved it to be a dry day because I thought we had it over them in speed around the field and line-breaking potential in midfield.”

Flanker Kotoni Ale scored a try in another impressive performance for the Marlins. Photo: seiserphotography.com

Flanker Kotoni Ale got the Marlins on the board with an early try after winger Jacob Woodhouse chased down a probing kick in the corner. The home-side dominated the next 20 minutes by keeping the ball deep in Parramatta’s half while the Two Blues hit the post with a penalty and kept playing with their trademark width as bustling centres Damien Fakafanua and Tukia Muli busted up the middle.

As the rain continued to fall, Parramatta gained an upper hand by kicking to the corners, but an ill-advised chip kick in midfield was gathered by Ale and the Marlins easily kept the ball in hand for Woodbouse to score in the corner and take a 10-0 lead.

Manly slotted a penalty five minutes out from halftime for a 13-0 lead at the break as Parramatta battled for consistency with a series of handling errors while on attack.

At the start of the second half the rain actually eased from a torrent to a mere downfall, but it didn’t deter Manly who kicked into overdrive and continued to punish any mistakes. Dave Porecki snapped up a loose ball and took off down the field on a 50-metre run only to be snagged in a desperate, lunging tackle 25-metres out from the line. The Manly forward was able to offload though, and after quick hands in slippery conditions from his teammates, Tom Chester was in for a try and an 18-0 lead.

Another penalty followed soon after and the Marlins had a bonus point on the hour mark when winger Richard Hooper found himself in a bit of space out wide. The try-scoring machine performed an excellent show and go before putting flyhalf Marshall Milroy in untouched under the posts for a 28-0 scoreline.

Parra mounted a small fightback in the closing quarter with a try on the right after a succession of penalties on the Manly line before Damien Fakafanua powered over from close range to the delight of a small but hardy contingent of traveling Two Blues fans. Dan Rawaqa nailed both difficult conversions to halve the Marlins’ lead but it was too little too late and after a patient build-up, Woodhouse was in for his second and a 33-14 scoreline that did little justice to the effort and application of a Parramatta side that simply couldn’t convert enough chances into points.

Manly are away to Eastwood in the ABC game next weekend while Parramatta host West Harbour at Merrylands.

Manly 33 (Kotoni Ale, Marshall Milroy, Jacob Woodhouse 3 tries; Tom Chesters con, 2 pens) d Parramatta 14 (Andrew Cox, Damien Fakafanua tries; Dan Rawaqa 2 cons)