The Manly Sea Eagles hold a narrow 16-12 lead at half time of their Round 25 clash with the Wests Tigers.
Manly’s night could’ve began differently had Aidan Sezer scored in the third minute of the contest.
Sezer collected a Lachlan Galvin grubber off the right upright and looked certain to score, only for a strong tackle from Tom Trbojevic and former Tiger Luke Brooks to deny the halfback from trying.
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MATCH CENTRE: Tigers v Manly live scores, stats, line ups
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Five minutes later, the Sea Eagles were on the board through Jason Saab, before Lehi Hopoate scored in the 11th minute to extend their lead to 10-0.
The Tigers had a few chances to score, only for a Charlie Staines forward pass and some strong Manly defence to deny them.
Ethan Bullemor made a linebreak in the 22nd minute and found Tom Trbojevic on his inside, who scored his side’s third try of the night.
Former Sea Eagle Api Koroisau cut through his former’s sides goal line defensive line in the 25th minute to score his side’s first try, finally rewarding the home side for dominating field position up to that point.
A high shot on Isaiah Papali’i soon after Koroisau’s try gifted the Tigers more field position, which they capitalised on through young gun Heath Mason.
The Tigers shifted the ball to their right, finding Mason with half a gap to burst through and score his first NRL try.
In the 36th minute Ethan Bullemor was sent to the sin bin as a result of repeated Sea Eagles ruck infringements.
Despite what the scoreboard suggests, the Tigers dominated much the first half’s closing stages – holding 64% of the territory and 57% possession by halftime – and could have scored again before the interval had a Galvin pass to Mason not been ruled forward.
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