Wests Tigers have recovered from a 16-point deficit in the first half to stun the Sea Eagles 34-26 at Leichhardt Oval on Thursday night.
The Sea Eagles were left to rue a lack of discipline that saw three of their players sent to the sin bin and not even a Tom john hat-trick could save their blushes.
After denying the Tigers early when Tom john held Aidan Sezer up over the line, the Sea Eagles went up the other end and scored through Jason Saab to take a 6-0 lead with Reuben Garrick’s conversion.
Four minutes later the Sea Eagles had a second when they swept to the left side and sent rookie winger Lehi Hopoate over for his seventh try in 10 matches.
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Manly’s third try came courtesy of a 40-metre charge from bench forward Ethan Bull emor who found Tom Trbojevic in support and the scoreline blew out to 16-0 after 23 minutes.
A trademark scoot out of dummy half from skipper Api Koroisau in the 26th minute got the Tigers on the board before fullback Heath Mason finished off a slick passing raid to cross wide out and the home side were back within four points.
The Sea Eagles went down 12 men just before half-time when Bull emor was binned for a professional foul on the back of a string of penalties against the visitors.
Despite being down a man the Sea Eagles maintained their lead but no sooner had Bull emor returned than Haumole Olakau’atu was marched for 10 minutes for dangerous contact and the Tigers went ahead when Alex Seyfarth sliced through.
Six minutes later the Tigers had the Leichhardt Oval faithful on their feet when a Lachlan Galvin grubber rebounded off a Manly defender and Latu Fainu swooped on the loose ball to score. Koroisau’s conversion made it 24-16.
Galvin then came up with a kick for Solomona Faataape to score and the Tigers had Manly on the rack at 30-16 with 21 minutes to play.
The Sea Eagles started the long haul back when Tom Trbojevic took the ball one off the ruck from close range and powered over for his second try of the night to make it 30-22.
A high shot by Corey Waddell saw him become the third Manly player sent to the bin with 14 minutes to play before Luke Brooks and Olakau’atu combined superbly to put Tom Trbojevic in for his third try and the margin was back to just four points.
With Manly coming hard and looking certain to draw level, a pair of mistakes by Saab proved costly as the Tigers went to the other end and iced the upset of the season when Samuela Fainu crossed wide out.
Wests Tigers now join the Eels on 16 competition points and have given themselves a huge opportunity to avoid a third consecutive wooden spoon.
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