| Marlins fight to the death in brave derby loss By Adam Lucius |
| What: Shute Shield round 16 |
| Who: Warringah v Manly |
| Where: Rat Park |
| Result: Warringah 28-23 |
| Manly is where on the table: Sixth (43 points) |
80 minutes in 80 seconds:
After alighting the double decker B Line in enemy territory and collecting our first beer of the day, we settled in on the second-best hill in the Shute Shield for the 96th edition of the local derby. The Rats jumped out to a 14-3 halftime advantage but we were right in this as long as we were next to score. We did. A try to Ben Howard via a delightful Aaron Blacklock flick pass five minutes after the break narrowed the margin to six. A converted try to the Rats 10 minutes later pushed them out to a 13-point advantage. Once again, we had to be next to score. And we were. Right winger Jay Baker beat one defender and pushed away two others before diving for the corner. That gave us a 21-13 scoreline on the hour. Warringah then scored from a grubber and they looked home at 15 points up with 11 to go. But Manly refused to wilt. Skipper Harry Bergelin surged his way over and Beaudein Waaka converted from out wide to put us within eight. A Waaka penalty made it 28-23 with three minutes left. The Marlins kept going right to the end but just couldn’t come up with one last try to steal the game.
Where it was Last:
Warringah controlled the set pieces a little better than the Marlins. Our lineout throws failed to hit the mark consistently, coughing up vital possession. The Rats were just a touch more polished but we did ask a lot of questions out wide. Adrian Hall and Kevin Fuavao will be better for the run, while James Hilterbrand, Kotoni Ale, Alex Humfrey and possibly Max Douglas will filter back over the next few weeks. There were more positives than negatives to come out of this loss.
Marlins' best:
Harry Bergelin, Aaron Blacklock, Jay Baker, Beaudein Waaka
What They Said:
“The effort was there but we beat ourselves by not nailing certain moments. We are playing for our lives every week now, but we are up for the challenge.” – fly-half James Ohmsen
Worth a mention:
With the last round bye and accompanying five competition points to come, a bonus point win over West Harbour next Saturday will guarantee the Marlins a finals berth. A loss will make for a very nervous afternoon on the Fusesport app come Saturday week.
Where to From Here:
We’ve already given that away. It’s the Pirates at the Village Green in our final home game of the year.
