Manly's back row brings down Raiders - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Manly's back row brings down Raiders

By Adrian Warren 17/04/2005 08:03:40 PM Comments (0)

Manly's barnstorming back row on Sunday brought Canberra playmaker Jason Smith and his previously unbeaten Canberra Raiders to a shuddering halt as it 'bashed' and inflicted a 36-14 defeat at its Brookvale Oval 'fortress'.

The Sea Eagles scored seven tries to two, piling on 16 points in the first 13 minutes following the break after they trailed 8-6 at halftime.

At least four of Manly's tries came from Canberra turnovers, some of them unforced, but the Raiders' attack got no change out of the stinging Manly defence.

"The plan today was to go out and try and bash them and make up for what we did last week," said Manly backrower Anthony Watmough, who Sea Eagles coach Des Hasler rated a representative bolter.

Playmaking five eighth, Smith, who played a big part in the Raiders' first four wins, could be out for a while after he suffered rib and sternum injuries in two crunching tackles from Manly's veteran second rower Steve Menzies.

"He's not real well, he's in a fair bit of pain," Canberra coach Matthew Elliott said.

"Steve Menzies came in and made sure he was alright, he showed a fair bit of class," added Elliott who felt he should have taken Smith off earlier.

Smith burrowed over from dummy half to set up Canberra's 6-0 lead in the 11th minute, but just four minutes later was placed on report by referee Jason Robinson for a lifting tackle on Watmough.

"I just remember being put down on my head, I was on the ground and that was it," Watmough said.

Menzies and Watmough were well supported by back row partner, Ben Kennedy, even though he sat out the final quarter of the game after taking a couple of knocks.

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