Manu Vatuvei makes a break during the round 23 NRL match between the Warriors and the Newcastle Knights. Photo / Getty Images
It was The Beast who did the thrilling yesterday as the NRL's two most dangerous players went head-to-head at Mt Smart Stadium.
Manu Vatuvei - aka The Beast - scored a superb hat-trick, twice barrelling straight over Akuila "The Thriller" Uate and out-climbing his opposite for a third try.
Vatuvei
rounded out his dominant display with a try-saving tackle to snuff out Uate on the only occasion the NRL's leading try scorer and line-breaker pierced the Warriors' line.
"I was pretty happy with how I went," Vatuvei said.
The hulking Tongan followed the time-honoured tradition of deflecting praise to his teammates, and also politely scored his battle for bragging rights with Uate as a draw.
"It was probably 50-50. I just got a few tries. It was a team effort. It's my job to finish it off and I did so I was pretty happy with that."
Knights coach Rick Stone, however, provided a more accurate appraisal of the battle between the game's two most deadly wingers.
"It's fair to say [Vatuvei] got the points today," Stone said.
Warriors coach Ivan Cleary also heaped praised on his star finisher, describing his game as outstanding.
"Probably the most pleasing thing was that chase-back on Uate," Cleary said. "I haven't seen him run that quick for a while."
Vatuvei wouldn't say as much but Cleary believed the giant winger was highly motivated by the head-to-head clash with the flying Fijian.
"He is pretty competitive, Manu, and I think he probably went into the game, they probably both did, with one eye on each other.
"When he got away like that Manu was pretty determined to run him down. And all of his tries, not many wingers would score them. It was a great all-round effort."
Vatuvei's hat-trick took his tally to 17 in 15 games this season. He now sits just three behind Uate's competition-leading tally of 20, despite having played six fewer games.
Having taken his career number to 75, Vatuvei is also on pace to break Stacey Jones' club record of 77 in the coming weeks.
"I don't really look at stats, I concentrate on my game," he said. "If I get to [the record] I get to it."
