Mangled Manly toast wounded Warriors

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In a match that better resembled a hospital emergency room, the Sea Eagles have overcome a tonne of injuries and a forgettable week off-field to down the Warriors 32-12 at Mt Smart Stadium today.

A crowd of just under 16,000 came to the home ground of the Auckland-based club expecting a response after the hosts went down to the Roosters last Sunday - and at first it seemed like they'd get it. The Warriors conceded the first try but appeared to dominate play otherwise, eventually resulting in a try to Shaun Johnson - but that's about where it ended.

Johnson's effort in slamming the ball down over the line was the end of his night - Shaun's ankle gave way in the attempted tackle that saw him get the ball down and he was carried off, eventually being taken to hospital.

With the scores locked at 6-all, the remainder of the half seemed more like a disaster zone with Steve Matai and Luke Burgess joining Johnson in taking no further part in proceedings due to injury. Ligi Sao and Tom Symonds would later leave the field worse-for-wear for the Sea Eagles as their bench reduced to zero.

The key period for this game came in the fifteen minutes after halftime though - Brett Stewart (one) and Jorge Taufua (two) combining for three tries between them to push the Sea Eagles to 22-6 leaders at the 55-minute mark.

Stewart would bag his second around 13 minutes from the end of the contest, before the Warriors staged the briefest of fight-backs through an Albert Vete try.

Directionless without Johnson at the helm, the Warriors then conceded another converted try in the final five when Manly' Matt Ballin crawled over from dummy-half under the sticks.

The Warriors' season looks to be fast unravelling after consecutive losses and confirmation in the post-match wash up that Johnson will miss the rest of the season, which has further compounded the loss of players in recent weeks including Ryan Hoffman, Manu Vatuvei and Konrad Hurrell.

Next week the men in black have another Saturday afternoon home game at Mt Smart where they'll host the Sharks, while the Sea Eagles are at "home" to Brisbane in Gosford on Saturday night.

Match Details

New Zealand Warriors 12 Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 32
Venue: Mt Smart Stadium
Crowd: 15812
Halftime Score: New Zealand Warriors 6 Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 6

NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS (12)
Tries: Shaun Johnson, Albert Vete
Field Goals:
Conversions: Tuimoala Lolohea (2/2)
Penalty Goals:

MANLY-WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES (32)
Tries: Jake Trbojevic, Jorge Taufua (2), Brett Stewart (2), Matt Ballin
Field Goals:
Conversions: Jamie Lyon (4/6)
Penalty Goals:

LeagueUnlimited.com Players of the Match:

3 points - Matt Ballin
2 points - Brett Stewart
1 point - Jake Trbojevic

LeagueUnlimited.com Live Commentary

Welcome to Old Boys Day at Mt Smart Stadium! After playing away last week the Warriors are celebrating Heritage Round at home. They'll don a wood-carving style jersey paying tribute to their players over 20 years at the club.

On the field, this game looks pretty one-sided, but the Warriors' inconsistency does leave the door open for the visiting Sea Eagles. They copped a beating from the Cowboys last week after going on a solid run of wins prior to the loss, so there's plenty of self-belief there. What we can be sure of is if they do lose today, they're gone. The Warriors on the other hand are battling to keep their noses above water in the Top 8, with a huge logjam between positions 6 and 10.

Not much to speak of in the teamsheets, just the two bench changes for Manly and the Warriors as per program.

Two curtain raisers at Mt Smart today - Manly are two from two so far, taking out Holden Cup Under 20's 36-16 before holding on in VB NSW Cup to win 18-16.

3:05pm and teams just trotting out onto the park now. Warriors in that heritage jersey, Manly wearing their mostly white away strip. Referees in teal. Here we go...

GAME ON! Matulino takes the first hit-up for the Warriors.

1: Don't. Let. The. Ball. Bounce. Stewart finally gets to it but a few nervy moments under the high ball at the end of the first set.

3: Warriors really troubling Manly with their last tackle options, Taufua only just stays in fielding a kick in the south-west corner.

4: Towering bomb put up for Peta Hiku this time, he takes it, not cleanly, but holds onto it.

5: UNFORCED ERROR MANLY-WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES
Jake Trbojevic makes an unforced error.
Uh oh. Big chance for the Warriors here after big Jake spills it.

5: Townsend puts in a grubber but DCE is all over it. Manly work it off their own line AND earn a penalty for the Warriors laying around too long in the ruck.

8: Manly put the ball wide by the boot, it's batted back to Lyon, he spreads it in-field, DCE takes possession, grubbers ahead not knowing there's 6-more... and forces the dropout after almost winning the race to the ball.

9: TRY MANLY-WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES
Scored by Jake Trbojevic. Kick to come.
WOW. Sao shoots a crafty offload out to a waiting Trbojevic who scores easily a few metres to the right of the posts.

10: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION MANLY-WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES
Conversion attempt by Jamie Lyon successful.
Manly take a six-point lead after absorbing plenty of early pressure.

14: Warriors come up with it inside Manly territory on the back of a penalty.

15: Brilliant chase on a Johnson grubber from the Warriors outside men sees Brett Stewart tackled back into the in-goal. Dropout Manly.

17: UNFORCED ERROR NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Chad Townsend makes an unforced error.
Townsend with a poor pass to Faitala-Mariner and the refs spot it as forward.

18: After a bit of a breather before that scrum was packed, we now have Manly earning a penalty halfway up the park. Good chance for them to extend their lead here.

19: Injury to Steve Matai, he's flung to the ground. Not looking great. Big loss for Manly.

20: Great work by Jorge Taufua to follow the play and chase down Glen Fisiiahi who is trapped in goal. Another drop-out. Both teams' kicking games are on-point today.

23: VIDEO REF | Possible try for the Sea Eagles, it's no try on the field and there's a pretty obvious effort from Tom Symonds to take a defender out. Won't be awarded.

23: NO TRY. Warriors penalty 10m out from their own line.

25: TRY NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Scored by Shaun Johnson. Kick to come.
DANCING DANCING DANCING! Shaun Johnson is over for the Warriors - what a step... but oh no. He's down and in a fair bit of pain. INJURY.

25: Johnson taken from the field by two trainers, can't put any weight on that left foot. He's not in a good way.

26: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Conversion attempt by Tuimoala Lolohea successful.
Lolohea steps up to take the conversion and makes no mistake.

27: Oh dear. Now we have Luke Burgess injured attempting to tackle Albert Vete. They're dropping like flies at Mt Smart this evening!

31: Manly given another penalty here. Penalty count is 4-all at the moment. Sea Eagles now on the attack...

32: Lolohea forced to run it dead after a clever kick through from Cherry-Evans to find former Warrior Feleti Mateo.

37: UPDATE: Sky Sports report that Johnson is off to hospital. End to end stuff in the last few minutes. Longest half of footy in a while with so many injuries.

38: VIDEO REF | Symonds is onside from a DCE kick... He goes up for it... propels it forward. That's a knock on. NO TRY.

40: One last play for the Warriors but nothing comes of it. A half of absolute carnage in Auckland. Halftime and nothing separates these two teams - Manly missing a couple of players who help their go-forward, while the Warriors have seemed rudderless since SJ left the field.

44: TRY MANLY-WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES
Scored by Jorge Taufua. Kick to come.
BOOM! Taufua finds space down the left corridor and crosses for the try. Manly lead!

47: UNSUCCESSFUL CONVERSION MANLY-WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES
Conversion attempt by Jamie Lyon unsuccessful.
Lyon's attempt fades away, just.

48: VIDEO REF | Brett Stewart is over, we're just checking onside and a contest for the ball. Looks good, green lights looming...

48: TRY MANLY-WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES
Scored by Brett Stewart. Kick to come.
Try #159 for the Prince of Brookvale, he joins Hazem El Masri in 6th on the all time tryscoring list.

49: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION MANLY-WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES
Conversion attempt by Jamie Lyon successful.
Great opening ten of the second half for Manly. Lyon extends the lead to ten.

51: Another injury? Tom Symonds is down with the trainers looking at his leg...

51: Manly progressing up field, they're on fire here...

51: VIDEO REF | Possible Manly try to Taufua. Checking sideline...

52: TRY MANLY-WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES
Scored by Jorge Taufua. Kick to come.
No worries. Taufua joins Stewart with a milestone - Jorge has 50 NRL tries. Great putdown in the corner.

53: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION MANLY-WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES
Conversion attempt by Jamie Lyon successful.
From the sideline... Lyon strikes it beautifully.

57: Warriors on the attack with just over 20 minutes remaining. Symonds is off being assessed so Manly are now without any fresh subs...

62: Manly with a couple of penalties to drive them up the park. They can put the game away with points here.

66: UNFORCED ERROR NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Simon Mannering makes an unforced error.
Not the Warriors' night. Captain courageous spills a regulation pick-up. Manly looking comfortable here, they pack a scrum 40m from the home side's line.

67: VIDEO REF | Possible Brett Stewart try. Checking onside. Looks good.

67: TRY MANLY-WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES
Scored by Brett Stewart. Kick to come.
Snake grabs another! Manly doing it in style now!

67: UNSUCCESSFUL CONVERSION MANLY-WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES
Conversion attempt by Jamie Lyon unsuccessful.
No dice this time for Lyon despite it being from an easier position.

71: Warriors really giving it everything but just lacking direction... they need a good finish here.

72: TRY NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Scored by Albert Vete. Kick to come.
Big Albert gets down low close to the line and powers over.

72: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Conversion attempt by Tuimoala Lolohea successful.
Tui is successful with the attempt.

76: Manly on the attack now as the clock begins to wind down.

77: TRY MANLY-WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES
Scored by Matt Ballin. Kick to come.
Dummy half dummies from dummy half and makes a dummy of the Warriors! Ballin scores, Manly celebrate!

78: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION MANLY-WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES
Conversion attempt by Jamie Lyon successful.
Too easy from in front for Lyon.

80: VIDEO REFEREE with 8 seconds left, Stewart wants a hat-trick but he's clearly lost that one. NO TRY and that's the ball game. Manly win by 20.

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