Sea Eagles too strong for Rhinos

12 April 2012

Leeds Rhinos were beaten in Sunday's Carnegie World Club Challenge as Australian champions Manly Sea Eagles outclassed them at Elland Road in a 28-20 win which was more emphatic than the try count suggested.

The Rhinos lost influential scrum-half Rob Burrow in the 17th minute and never recovered as Manly seized control to run in tries from Brett Stewart (two), Anthony Watmough (two) and Steve Matai.

That ensured tries from Jamie Jones-Buchanan, Keith Senior, Ryan Hall and Danny McGuire meant little for Leeds as the Australians ended five years of English dominance in this annual showpiece fixture.

The Sea Eagles looked up for the challenge from the kick-off, and any doubt about their serious intent was swiftly removed when Josh Perry came to blows with England captain Jamie Peacock - left-overs from the World Cup, perhaps.

Leeds clearly felt their loss the most, after both were sin binned, and conceded the game's first try within a minute of the incident, full-back Brett Stewart forcing his way over from close range for the first of his two scores.

That helped the visitors get on a roll, and on seven minutes Matt Orford got the dangerous Watmough striding through a gap for his side's second try.

Orford's second goal made it 12-0, but the Rhinos grabbed themselves a lifeline just before the break when second rower Jamie Jones Buchanan pulled a try back in contentious fashion.

Orford belied his 30 years by tracking back to make the tackle on the line and managed to remove the ball from McGuire's grasp - only to see Jones Buchanan follow up to get the precious touch, video referee Steve Ganson confirming the try.

Stewart pounced on an error by makeshift centre Carl Ablett; Watmough finished off a break by winger Michael Robertson, and centre Steve Matai was sent in by impressive substitute Heath L'Estrange.

Keith Senior took Ali Lauitiiti's overhead pass to score a deserved try, and willing winger Ryan Hall added another on 72 minutes - with Sinfield kicking his second goal. Orford kicked a late penalty, but at least the Rhinos had the final say when Senior sent McGuire racing away for another consolation try.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in