Manly Sea Eagles come from behind to beat Canterbury Bulldogs 24-22 in NRL elimination final
Daly Cherry-Evans has saved his best for last as the Manly Sea Eagles skipper scored a try, and was instrumental in the dying stages, to steer his side to a thrilling two point win over the heartbroken Bulldogs.
Manly advanced to the second week of the NRL finals and ended Canterbury’s Cinderella season with a come-from-behind 24-22 win in the sides’ elimination final at Accor Stadium.
The Bulldogs controlled long stretches of Sunday’s match, but a runaway try from Tolu Koula helped put the Sea Eagles on top during the final 10 minutes.
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The Sea Eagles will meet the Sydney Roosters for a semi-final at Allianz Stadium next Saturday night, with the Bulldogs left to regroup following heartbreak in their first final since 2016.
The loss ends a horror week for the Bulldogs who lost star winger Josh Addo-Carr after he stood himself down following a positive roadside drug test for cocaine.
His future at the club hangs in the balance with the Bulldogs yet to reveal if they will allow him to talk to rivals clubs with one year left on his contract if he is no longer welcome at Belmore.
Tom Trbojevic made it through the full game on return from a shoulder injury, but the star Manly fullback struggled as the Bulldogs overcame recent physicality issues for a muscular first 40 minutes.
Premiership winners Viliame Kikau and Stephen Crichton were the architects of a 16-12 half-time lead that did not do justice to Canterbury’s domination of the contest.
After a Trobjevic knock-on, Kikau offloaded for Jacob Kiraz to score, before bursting through the Manly fullback for his own four-pointer.
Trbojevic was again caught out of position ahead of the Bulldogs’ third, losing the footrace to the ball as Crichton touched Burton’s kick down.
But when Lehi Hopoate outleapt Connor Tracey to send Ethan Bullemor over in the shadows of half-time, the Sea Eagles were well in the game.
Manly five-eighth Luke Brooks was excellent in breaking his 229-game finals drought, darting upfield to put the Sea Eagles in position for Tommy Talau to score their opener in the first half.
Brooks then threw a flat ball for Cherry-Evans to score from a scrum set play midway through the second and cut the Bulldogs’ lead to four points.
Running the ball on the last play, Manly caught the Bulldogs’ right edge napping on a tear that began on the other side of halfway.
Ben Trbojevic found Koula, who burned Toby Sexton and stepped around Connor Tracey on his way to scoring a classic finals try.
Reuben Garrick’s conversion put the Sea Eagles in front, with the visitors never surrendering their lead.
The loss ends a resurgent season for the Bulldogs, who were made to contend with a torrid week in the headlines generated by the Addo-Carr scandal.
His replacement Jeral Skelton had a mostly solid afternoon, catching Crichton’s tap-on to restore the Bulldogs’ lead.
But the side will be left to wonder what might have been had Addo-Carr been present on the right edge as Manly ran in their critical try.
SNAPSHOT OF THE FINAL
Key moment: Tolu Koula’s long-range try with nine minutes to play. Manly caught the Bulldogs’ right side napping as they ran on the fifth tackle and fleet-footed Koula found the ball in his hands. The centre burned Toby Sexton on his 45-metre dash, then stepped inside Connor Tracey for the try that put the Sea Eagles in position to take an unlikely lead.
The stat: Canterbury made two errors in the first 53 minutes but fell apart late, finishing with seven as Manly began to find ascendancy.
Judiciary watch: Bulldogs - Viliame Kikau (shoulder charge on Lachlan Croker, first half), Reed Mahoney (shoulder charge on Reuben Garrick, second half); Sea Eagles - Ethan Bullemor (high tackle on Stephen Crichton, first half)
What’s next? Manly face the Sydney Roosters in a semi-final at Allianz Stadium next Saturday, but the season is over for Canterbury. Cronulla will host North Queensland in the other semi-final, set to be played next Friday at the same venue.
