NRL: Manly beat Penrith to stay second

Kieran Foran of the Eagles breaks a tackle on his way to scoring a try. Photo / Getty Images

Sea Eagles 12
Panthers 8

Manly maintained the pressure on NRL ladder leaders Melbourne with an ugly 12-8 win over a disjointed Penrith at Centrebet Stadium.

In a game which never reached any great heights, the Sea Eagles stayed two points behind the Storm with the win sealed 15 minutes from time thanks to a runaway Keiran Foran try.

Despite the benefit of four penalties over the opening quarter of the game, the Panthers never really looked like getting over the line - Luke Lewis' pre-game withdrawal due to a shoulder injury leaving the home side without its chief attacking weapon.

Manly's first penalty for some sloppy play at marker proved far more profitable, Jamie Lyon beating three defenders in a scything run before being brought down by Lachlan Coote.

The Penrith fullback dropped off the tackle however, and with the rest of his teammates having stopped thinking the Manly skipper had been tackled, Lyon jumped to his feet and darted over for the opening points of the match.

The Sea Eagles were over again two minutes later, only for Daly Cherry-Evans to be denied with Foran's strip of David Simmons ruled to have gone forward.

The Panthers returned to the hot potato football which had secured them a last-second win against Parramatta last week, but Stewart brothers Glenn and Brett bundled Trent Waterhouse over the sideline as he threatened to go over.

Things didn't get much better for the home side after the restart with Nafe Seluini knocking on inside his own half, but the Panthers finally found a chink in the Sea Eagles' defence with a smart Matthew Bell offload sending Coote over in the 51st minute.

It was seemingly a match-levelling play only for Travis Burns - who had hit 24 of his previous 25 attempts - having a shank with his conversion as it failed to reach the height of the crossbar.

Heads went down as a result of the miss, the error compounded by a Dayne Weston knock-on from the restart.

That fumble went unpunished, but Brett Stewart and Foran soon combined to seal the win with a long-range try 15 minutes from time.

The eight-point buffer proved too much despite a last-minute Simmons try - Penrith's decision not to take the shot at conversion as the clock ticked down to no avail, with a forward pass from the restart.

MANLY 12 (K Foran J Lyon tries J Lyon 2 goals) bt PENRITH 8 (L Coote D Simmons tries) at Centrebet Stadium. Referee: Shayne Hayne, Ben Cummins. Crowd: 13,832.

- AAP