Match Details
Match Date	20th Mar, 2015
Opponent	Manly
Result	Win 16-12
Coach	Des Hasler
Captain	James Graham
Venue	Brookvale Oval
Crowd	10,498
Referee	Matt Cecchin Henry Perenara

For the second straight week referees have played a major role at Brookvale Oval. Only this time it didn’t cost the away team victory.

Canterbury beat Manly 16-12 on Friday night in front of 10,498 people, on a surface that the NRL will examine this week. The ground looked more like Manly beach with patches of sand making the surface difficult for players.

A week after Tony Archer admitted his men incorrectly denied a match-turning try to Melbourne at the same ground, the referees boss will be forced to closely examine the 50th-minute decision to award Steve Matai a four-pointer.

Referee Matt Cecchin believed Bulldogs prop Aiden Tolman had held up Matai, but the decision was overturned by video referees Bernard Sutton and Luke Phillips, much to the chagrin of Tolman. ‘‘There is no evidence he got the ball on the ground,’’ Tolman protested on the field to Cecchin. ‘‘They’ve got vision up there. We all saw it. How is that enough evidence?’’

Skipper Jamie Lyon was a late withdrawal for the Sea Eagles after injuring his leg during the team’s final training session on Thursday. The Sea Eagles seemed to have been dealt a further blow when Matai came from the field with a shoulder injury, only to return 10 minutes later. Aside from his talent, the Sea Eagles also missed their skipper’s ability with the boot. Manly crucially missed three regulation goals with Matai and Daly Cherry-Evans off target.

A dour second half sprung to life in the closing 10 minutes when the teams traded late tries. The Bulldogs had to wait until the 70th minute to score their first points after half-time to extend their lead to a match-winning eight-point margin. A Moses Mbye cut-out pass found Sam Perrett on the wing to extend the Bulldogs lead.

However, Manly regathered the kick-off and moments later Peta Hiku scored in the corner.

The Bulldogs held on to their four-point lead despite Manly’s late efforts.

Manly coach Geoff Toovey said he was proud of his team but that they had plenty of work to do.

‘‘I hate saying it, the effort is there but the execution was really poor in the first half; very poor in our completions.’’

Manly squandered two first-half chances. Tom Symonds looked to have added the first points of the game but fumbled a clever dummy half kick from Matt Ballin over the try line. A correct obstruction call denied the Sea Eagles another try when Brett Stewart was ruled to have run behind two attacking players.

It was the Bulldogs who opened the scoring through Tim Lafai in the 17th minute.

Lafai had his second try of the night when the Sea Eagles allowed a Mbye bomb to bounce. Perrett swooped on the ball to send Lafai over and give the Bulldogs a 10-4 half-time lead.

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

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