SEA EAGLES 52
WARRIORS 6
KEY POINTS:
Just when you thought the New Zealand Warriors were running into form, their alter ego returned in a National Rugby League (NRL) Monday night horror show.
Last year's beaten finalists Manly, previously winless in 2008, delighted in the Warriors' rash of early errors and raced back into form with a 52-6 victory at Sydney's Brookvale Oval.
It was a record win by the Sea Eagles from 14 matches against the Warriors, eclipsing their 38-12 victory in Auckland in 1998.
The hosts scored 10 tries to one, fullback Brett Stewart and winger Michael Robertson bagging three apiece and second-rower Anthony Watmough a double.
It was one of the Warriors' worst performances in recent memory as they eye a six-day turnaround before hosting in-form Newcastle.
A small consolation was they just avoided their record losing margin, a 0-54 defeat to St George-Illawarra in 2000.
The Warriors arrived in Sydney on the back of a stunning 30-16 home win over Parramatta and faced a Manly side who'd struggled to cross the line in defeat to Cronulla and Newcastle.
They'd also won four of their last five visits across the Tasman to play the Sea Eagles.
But the sleepy Warriors struggled to complete their sets in the first half and coughed up ball as Manly raced in for four tries to lead 22-6 at the break.
Manly's dented confidence came flooding back, halfback Matt Orford had the ball on a string and kicked six goals.
He departed with 10 minutes remaining to standing ovation from a small home crowd of 10,000.
The pressure was on the hosts, last year's beaten grand finalists, but coach Des Hasler's backline reshuffle paid immediate dividends.
Veteran forward Steve Menzies made a rare start at five-eighth and laid on the first try with an in-pass to Stewart from a blindside scrum move.
The scrum resulted from a regulation fumble from Lance Hohaia at dummy half.
Manly's test centre Jamie Lyon was moved to his rightful position after starting the season at No 6, and caused headaches for the Warriors every time he touched the ball.
He laid on the second of Robertson's tries when he got on the outside of fellow international Brent Tate, Patrick Ah Van came off his line and left Robertson a 15m run to the corner.
That made it 16-0 after 27 minutes, soon after Robertson pounced on an Orford grubber which Michael Witt let go, just centimetres from the dead ball line.
A rare Warriors bright spot came from Hohaia who made up for his earlier error by steaming onto a Witt pass near the line and crashing through three Manly defenders to score.
But hopes of a Warriors revival went south five minutes before halftime when Witt fumbled a Grant Rovelli pass in their 20m line and Orford gleefully snared the intercept to stroll under the posts.
The Warriors' body language spoke volumes at halftime and didn't improve in a scoreless second spell.
Speedy winger Michael Bani started the second half rout from another Orford grubber six minutes in, before Watmough and Stewart scored within three minutes of each other to make it 38-6 with 20 minutes left.
It was the Warriors' equal third-largest losing margin in their 13-year history and the worst defeat under coach Ivan Cleary's watch, having taken over in 2006.
"I've never been involved in anything like it. I didn't see it coming and it's a little hard to explain," Cleary said.
Captain Ruben Wiki was quick to put his hand up.
"You can't give a team so much ball and we turned it over a few times," he said.
"They put the pressure on us and we didn't turn up. We're all accountable for making errors and that's why the score was so high."
- NZPA
