| Courage under fire, Marlins lock out Beasties By MRFC |
| What: Shute Shield round 3 |
| Who: Manly v Eastern Suburbs |
| Where: Manly Oval |
| Result: Manly 22-18 |
| Manly is where on the table: Fourth (10 points) |
80 minutes in 80 seconds:
Manly nearly had an immediate lead from the kick off through Luke Crocker but he went into touch in goal and a few plays later Alex Northam was held up over the line. The sides traded penalties before the Marlins eventually scored through Harry Bergelin. Easts hit back and had a slight lead into oranges. After the break Manly started assume a control and had some ascendancy upfront providing a penalty try and a platform for James Ohmsen to crash over. Easts would not lie down though and hit back to ensure the game had a tense ending. How tense it was... with the Marlins holding on for dear life and grinding out the win. The performance itself was not the best with Manly still struggling to get the attack clicking and the line out struggled badly. But despite all that they got the win and the heart showed in the last five minutes was most impressive indeed. Plenty of room left for improvement and to be winning at the same time is pleasing.
Where it was won:
The final five minutes had everything. Yellow cards, crooked throws, controversial penalties, four thousand tackles, two scrums, chest pumping, a bit of banter & the Marlins weathered it all! The faithful at the Village Green absolutely loved seeing the defensive effort of the Marlins, with a can of 4Pines in hand the locals erupted when Easts finally cracked! Club Rugby at it's finest.
Marlins' best:
Plenty of contenders worthy of this one but none more so than Marlins skipper Kotoni Ale, he was immense. Ale was followed closely by Luke Crocker, Alex Northam & Alex Humfrey.
Worth a mention:
Great to see lots of the Easts players hanging around after the match and even kicking on to a few Manly establishments into the evening. Former Marlin turned Beast Sam Shires spent plenty of time catching up with his old club mates. It's this sort of spirit that keeps the game and the Shute Shield strong.
Where to from here:
A huge test awaits the Marlins at North Sydney Oval who take on red-hot Northern Suburbs fresh from a huge win against Eastwood @ TG Milner.
