Cipriani Not Enough As Rats Outmuscled By Manly

Round 13 Match Report: By Paul Cook

He came, he saw, but unfortunately for a desperate Warringah side, he failed to conquer. Yes, the mercurial talent turned walking headline that is Danny Cipriani made his Shute Shield debut at Rat Park on Saturday but despite a few glimpses of magic and a particularly enthusiastic defensive display, he couldn’t prevent a powerful and disciplined Manly outfit from retaining the Bayfield Cup and maintaining bragging rights on the peninsular with a 32-15 victory.

Former Western Force backrower – and current Waratah target if you believe the mail – Tevita Metuisela took a lot of the plaudits with a hat-trick of tries in a busy, bustling and energetic solo performance that helped Manly to a 21-7 lead at half-time before they crushed a mini revival from the Rats after the break to close the game out in the last quarter.

A healthy crowd of over 5,000 were there to witness Cipriani make his first appearance in the green and white of Warringah in what is a predicted 3 week cameo. Here at the behest of Rebel friends and Rats diehards, Mark Gerrard and Luke Holmes, Cipriani showed enough moments of quality without ever really dominating the game to see why his short time with the club could be just the spark they need to reverse their flagging fortunes.

He had barely settled into his new surroundings before Metuisela’s opener, the deceptively quick no.8 powering over in the corner to silence the home support and when former Rat Kotoni Ale went over for try no.2 within the first 20 minutes, the hosts were staring down the barrel.

Josh Holmes, as he has so often done in this season of Warringah woe, stepped up to the mark again with a trademark opportunist try, throwing the most savage of dummies to deceive the goal line defence and snipe over to reduce the arrears. Cipriani converted and hope was restored, albeit briefly.

The Marlins have had one of the biggest, baddest and downright effective packs in the competition for the last couple of years and they used their power at the set-piece to dominate possession and reduce Warringah to snippets of control from which to try and stay in touch.

Concerted periods of pressure on the Warringah line led to successive penalties and eventually a yellow card for Rats prop Daniel Barnard, much to the delight of the vocal Marlin faithful.

From such close proximity and against a temporarily weakened pack, Manly’s scrum was simply too strong and although the pushover was initially resisted, Metuisela scooped up from the collapsing melee to dot down for his second. Marshall Milroy despatched his third successful conversion to leave the Rats hanging on at 21-7.

It could have been goodnight Vienna just before the bell when the Marlins went over again but referee Angus Gardner – not the most popular man at Rat Park on the day it has to be said – pulled the try back for offside.

There was still time for two further claims for a five pointer to be turned down before the Rats forced a turnover, cleared to touch and earned a 10 minute respite. Head coach Sam Harris admitted that another try at that point would have been the killer and used the reprieve to lift his troops for a 2nd half fightback:

“I just let them know that the game wasn’t gone at all. They could have been 28-7 and probably should have been but we gave ourselves that chance and having done that, to go out and stick it to them. Just go all out for 10-15 minutes and take it from there.”

His counterpart in the Manly sheds, Tim Lane, was more than pleased with his side’s opening half:

“Physically, we were very good, scrum time and our line outs were good and defensively, we were good. We controlled our ball well, we were very good at the breakdown and we kept our structure pretty well.”

Roared on by a fervent home crowd, the Rats turned up the heat upon their return and Cipriani went up a gear, picking holes in the Marlins defensive line. They could have had two tries but poor distribution cost them with Josh Holmes passing behind Dave Feltscheer and into touch with the line begging before his brother Luke broke the line only to offload far too high for the onrushing Jason Peseta to gather in and score.

However, minutes later, they did strike, a break down the left saw the Marlins defence well and truly breached with the Rats having a three on one scenario and they played it perfectly. Mark Porpiglia feeding the final ball inside for Josh Holmes to claim his second. Wallaby Mark Gerrard – newly arrived to the proceedings – took over kicking duties from Cipriani but hit the posts with his conversion attempt.

The Marlins were rattled, coughing up turnovers in their own half and Cipriani started to cut loose, putting on some razzle-dazzle with reverse passes and spinning grubbers to bemuse the opposition ranks. The problem was, with only one training session together, his team mates often didn’t read his plays and weren’t ready and in position when he spotted an opportunity.

A pivotal moment came in the 56th minute when Rats pressure earned a penalty 5 metres out. With Cipriani looking to tap and go and for the maximim 7pts, the call came to go for the posts instead and Gerrard obliged. Hindsight’s a wonderful thing but it did seem that with the momentum they had, going for the jugular may have been the better option.

Harris had his reasons but admitted, he could have called it differently:

“I think if Gerrard kicks the conversion from the try just before, then it’s a tap and go every day of the week but to get us within range, I just wanted to go for the posts. In hindsight, you’re probably right.”

Tim Lane hit the nail on the head:

“We were expecting them not to kick for points because their season’s gone so why take 3 when you can go for 7?”

Gerrard’s kick would be the last points of the day for the home side as Manly showed their title credentials in the closing quarter by taking stock, shoring up defensively and playing it down the other end of the field.

A Milroy penalty took the gap out to 9pts before some expansive play using the width of the field to stretch Warringah, created a gap on the left for the predatory Metuisela to round the last man, cross in the corner for his hat-trick and seal the win.

Milroy missed the conversion but popped over another penalty in the death throes of the match to rubber stamp the Marlins’ authority over their local rivals in 2011.

Manly 32 (Tevita Metuisela 3, Kotoni Ale tries; Marshall Milroy 3 cons, 2 pens) d Warringah 15 (Josh Holmes 2 tries; Danny Cipriani con, Mark Gerrard pen) at Pittwater Rugby Park. Referee: Angus Gardner

Final Thoughts…

Warringah fly-half Danny Cipriani:

“It was good, in club rugby, everyone just comes together on a Thursday night and trains and then runs onto the field today and that’s kind of what rugby’s about. It’s the side on the day that gels a bit better and perhaps that was the case with Manly but we know the things that we can do to get better.

“I wanted to have a crack [in the 56th minute] and I think if I’d played with them a bit longer, they’d have known what I’m about, they would have been on the wing and I would have had a little dabble but that’s alright, we’ll learn that stuff and we’ll be alright. Definitely, a 7 pointer would have been good then.”

Manly captain Chris Cottee:

“We wanted to take them on up front but when we got quick ball and got round the corner, that’s when we found we opened them up a little bit. In the 1st half, I think we scored two tries from going hard round the corner and we caught them short, we moved away from that unfortunately and went back to it a little towards the end when we started playing a bit better. We didn’t execute in some parts as well as we should have but these games are never pretty usually and we’re happy with the result.

“We still haven’t played our best footy. I think in the past, we’ve peaked before this time of the season so it’s pretty pleasing to be winning and know that you’ve still got something in the back pocket.”

Warringah head coach Sam Harris:

“I thought Cipriani was very impressive today and stepped up when needed and didn’t shirk his responsibilities. He’s got that target on his back at the moment and maybe he dispelled some of the disbelievers today. In attack, there were a couple of times where he called for the ball and they had a big line set and I was thinking ‘You don’t need it yet!’ but he took it and made something happen.

“Last week was one thing but if we didn’t turn up today, it wouldn’t have been worth anything. We did and I think as a club, we’re building momentum and getting there slowly and we can see it coming.”

Manly head coach Tim Lane:

“It’s an easy game for these blokes to get up for, they know there’s a bit of hatred there so it was always going to be pretty good I think. Last week, we just didn’t control our ball well, we turned it over and tried to do too much with it but today, we were pretty clinical so it was good.

“Today I think is the start of a new phase for us because we have guys like Andrew Smith back and Jonno Owen who I thought gave us a very solid platform along with Elvis [Taoine]. Shannon Hegarty was good when he came on and Robbie [Coleman] will come back as well and add another dimension in attack so we’re in a pretty good spot. There’s no way we’re favourites like people were pr

Shortlink: