The Dyldam Parramatta Eels Under 20s side has been defeated 54-26 by the Manly Sea Eagles in their first game of the season on Friday night at Pirtek Stadium.
The Blue and Gold were first on the scoreboard with some great lead up work by Nathan Davis and Reimis Smith, which saw winger Abbas Miski score in the corner.
In the 17th minute, Sea Eagles fullback, Tom Trbojevic, sliced through defenders to score a 40-metre try andput his team on the board. Hugh Pratt’s successful conversion put the visitors ahead 6-4.
Trbojevic set up the Sea Eagles’ second try to winger Mitch Thomas in the 21st minute, which took Manly to a 10-4 lead.
The home side levelled up the score through a play started by halfback Zach Dockar-Clay who threw a cut out ball to Tyrell Fuimaono and saw Aaron Pene score Parramatta’s second try.
A chip kick into the in goal from Manly’s captain Riley Travers saw Mitch Thomas with his second try of the game. Pratt came up with another successful conversion, putting Manly a converted try in front at 16-10.
The Eels pulled out some scrambling defence saving a try, but it wasn’t enough to prevent Jesse Ramien find the line and score in the corner in the 35th minute.
Manly put up a bomb, which sparked some great play by the Eels. Pene collected it and ran 40 odd metres before passing to Dylan Izzard who was then tackled. However, the Eels failed to score again before halftime, with Manly heading into the sheds ahead 20-10.
The Eels started the second half strong with another try to Aaron Pene after he received an offload from Tyrell Fuimaono. A successful sideline conversion saw the Eels close the gap, trailing the Sea Eagles by 4.
Manly responded in the 45th minute with Jesse Ramien sidestepping his way through Parra defence and passing to Trbojevic for his second try of the evening with Manly stretching out their lead to 26 points to 16.
Reimis Smith scored the ninth try of the game in the corner and fullback Nathan Davis hit a beautiful strike from the sideline to get the Blue and Gold back to just six behind.
Sea Eagles prop Jesse Maxwell scored his first try of the night in the 56th minute to put the visitors further in front, while the Eels were unlucky not to the score in the 61st minute with some great lead up work from their halves, as Abbas Miski fell just short of a second try.
Manly were once again on the attack with a kick through by Nicho Hynes which saw Jessse Ramien in for his second try of the night, and with another successful conversion by Pratt, the Sea Eagles had the lead at 38-22.
Although the Eels scored through Reimis Smith in the 70th minutes, the visitors found the try line twice more, through their captain Riley Travers and Will Pearsall to seal the win 54-26.
