The Canberra Raiders have been blown away by a red hot Manly outfit today at Brookvale Oval, going down 54-18 to the Sea Eagles in round eight action.
Glen Buttriss played his 100th NRL match for the Green Machine, but it wasn’t a day of celebrations for the Raiders hooker, with a tough loss on the road in his 100th outing.
A dominant first half from Manly saw them score seven tries to the Raiders one, with Daly Cherry-Evans dominating the match with the ball in hand.
The crafty Manly halfback was in everything for the Sea Eagles and he was well supported by his team mates, with Manly winger Peter Hiku scoring a first half hat trick and four tries in the match.
The Raiders had no answer to the Manly onslaught as they conceded the first 42 points of the match, with a lone try to Reece Robinson at the end of the first half seeing the Raiders trail 42-4 at half time.
It all started when Peter Hiku scored in the corner following an early error from the Raiders, when a Jamie Lyon kick put pressure on Anthony Milford. Jamie Lyon was involved again soon after when he backed up a break from Daly Cherry-Evans to score their second try.
Only three minutes later Brenton Lawrence was in for a try after the Raiders gave away another penalty and it was 24-0 after 14 minutes when Anthony Watmough scored after a Jack Littlejohn 40/20 kick.
Hiku collected his second try when Cherry-Evans bounced out of heavy contact to find Jamie Lyon, who tipped the ball on for the flying Hiku. Another try to Brett Stewart followed soon after when Cherry-Evans found some space to send the Manly fullback away and Hiku then scored his third try of the half.
An intercept from Reece Robinson was the only joy for Raiders fans in the first half, as he raced away for an 80m effort as half time approached.
The Raiders scored first in the second half when Jarrod Croker intercepted a Brett Stewart pass to run around 75m to score, but the joy was short lived for the Raiders when Peter Hiku Scored his fourth try after the Manly attack found the Raiders short down the left edge.
The Raiders scored some consolation tries to Jack Wighton and Josh McCrone late in the match, but the early damage from Manly was enough to see them home comfortably with the 54-18 win.
