NRL: Late burst keeps Sea Eagles in top four

Akuila Uate (centre) of the Sea Eagles is congratulated after scoring try during the round 19 NRL match. Photo / AAP

Sea Eagles 28
Wests Tigers 16

Cowboys 23
Rabbitohs 10

Manly have retained their spot in the NRL's top four, after they came from behind to beat Wests Tigers 28-16 yesterday.

The Sea Eagles trailed by eight points with 25 minutes to go, before back-to-back tries to wingers Matthew Wright and Akuila Uate put them back in the lead.

Uate's effort was a 40-metre run as he showed signs of his best days at Newcastle, after he busted through a number of would-be defenders with his sheer power.

The win left them third on the ladder but could have come at a cost for the Sea Eagles as hooker Apisai Koroisau was taken from the field late with an apparent knee injury.

Daly Cherry-Evans was again superb in attack. He set up Manly's first try and had a hand in their second after he booted a monstrous 40-20 to put them on the attack off the next set.

Tom Trbojevic then had his first of two try assists when he put Wright in for his first in the left-hand corner with a lofted pass to make it 8-0 after 11 minutes.

The Manly fullback finished with 218 metres and two line breaks, and ended the match by putting on a try for his brother Jake between the posts after he again combined with Cherry-Evans.

After Joel Edwards opened the scoring for the Tigers, Luke Brooks provided a grubber for centre Esan Marsters to put them up 10-8 at the half-hour mark.

Brooks then extended the Tigers' lead to eight after the break when he dived on his own grubber, after it deflected off both a Manly player and the post.

However, he failed to take control of the match when it mattered most, as he then made two crucial errors at his own end.

A Jake Granville-inspired North Queensland have claimed three straight victories for the first time this season with a comfortable 23-10 win over South Sydney in Cairns.

Granville scored a try and set up two others to help consolidate the Cowboys' spot in the NRL top eight, while also all but extinguishing the Rabbitohs' finals aspirations.

North Queensland have now won five of their past six including three on the trot without star halfback Johnathan Thurston.