Rugby Leauge: LEEDS Rhinos fail to defend world crown

Page last updated at 20:46 GMT, Sunday, 1 March 2009

LEEDS Rhinos fail to defend world crown Leeds 20-28 Manly

Leeds (4) 20 Tries: Jones-Buchanan, Senior, Hall, McGuire Goals: Sinfield 2 Manly (12) 28 Tries: B Stewart 2, Watmough 2, Matai Goals: Orford 4 Anthony Watmough scored two of Manly's tries A quick three-try burst at the start of the second half helped ease NRL champions Manly Sea Eagles to victory over Leeds in the World Club Challenge. Brett Stewart, Anthony Watmough and Steve Matai all went over in the space of six minutes to put Manly 26-4 up. Leeds, who lost scrum-half Rob Burrow to injury midway through the first half, continued to battle hard. Scores from Keith Senior and Ryan Hall got them back into contention but they were unable to close the gap. It was the first win for an Australian side in the fixture - between the NRL champions and the Super League victors - since Sydney Roosters' 38-0 win over St Helens in 2003. The Super League champions were forced to defend their line early on to deny Manly but they held firm. However, their cause was not helped when Burrow, who passed a late fitness test on a back injury before the game, was laid out by a tackle from Watmough and was forced off and he failed to reappear for the rest of the game. Manly forced back-to-back sets when Matt Orford's kick was fielded by Lee Smith who was dragged behind his own goalline. Tempers started to flare on the field and Jamie Peacock and Josh Perry were both sin-binned after 20 minutes. From the resulting Manly penalty, the visitors pushed for the line and Stewart showed some quick thinking to scramble over from dummy-half and put his side ahead with Matt Orford adding the extras. The dangerous-looking Watmough extended the lead when a delightful pass by Orford created a hole in the Leeds defence and the second-rower got through to score. Things almost got worse for Leeds seven minutes before the interval when Watmough broke through the Leeds defence again and passed to Stewart who seemed certain to score but dropped the ball with the line beckoning. The Rhinos made the most of their good fortune and when Kevin Sinfield's high kick got to Danny McGuire who was stopped by Orford, over the line, the ball went lose and hit Jamie Jones-Buchanan who touched down. After lengthy deliberation by video referee Steve Ganson the try was given but Sinfield missed the extras. Any hopes of a Leeds revival were dashed by Manly's whirlwind start to the second half. Stewart seized on Carl Ablett's failure to deal with a loose ball to score his second try while Watmough took advantage of some slack Rhinos defence to touch down in the corner. Two minutes later, Manly had their fifth try when replacement Heath L'Estrange worked the ball out to Matai to leav the Australians were well in control. Some neat handling by Ali Lauitiiti sent both Senior and Hall in to give the scoreline some respectability. before McGuire had the final say, racing in to score down the left flank in the final minute. Leeds: Smith, Donald, Ablett, Senior, Hall, McGuire, Burrow, Leuluai, Diskin, Peacock, Jones-Buchanan, Kirke, Sinfield. Replacements: Lauitiiti, Bailey, Burgess, Watkins. Manly: B. Stewart, Robertson, Lyon, Matai, D. Williams, Bailey, Orford, King, Ballin, Perry, Watmough, Hall, G. Stewart. Replacements: L'Estrange, Cuthbertson, Rose, Rodney. Referee: Jason Robinson (Australia)