The St George Illawarra Dragons have defeated the Manly Sea Eagles 20-18 in a topsy-turvy encounter at Brookvale Oval to open Round 11 of the Telstra Premiership.

The lead changed no less than six times in a match that both sides seemed to be trying their hardest to lose – Manly had considerably more possession but couldn’t translate that into a significant advantage on the scoreboard, while the Dragons were their own worst enemies with terrible ball control almost proving to be their undoing.

Despite the late withdrawal of representative centre Matt Cooper, the Dragons were able to post the opening try after only 7 minutes through second-rower Beau Scott, who took advantage of a head clash suffered by Anthony Watmough to stroll past the Manly enforcer with ridiculous ease.

Manly winger David Williams soon got the home side on the board after backing up a nice play from Origin fullback Brett Stewart, but Ben Hornby hit straight back shortly afterwards to restore the Dragons advantage before they went into full self-destruct mode. As the first half drew to a close the visitors failed to complete seven consecutive sets, but Manly could only post one further try to veteran second-rower Steve Menzies which opened up a 12-10 halftime lead.

The second half started with plenty of fumbles from both sides before Steve Matai decided to take out Jamie Soward with a tackle so late that it almost came from a different time zone. Following the resulting penalty, the Dragons quickly took a 14-12 lead thanks to a dubious green light from the video referee for Kiwi winger Jason Nightingale.

Manly reclaimed the lead when Michael Robertson took advantage of some poor wing play from his opposite Chase Stanley to dot down in the 69th minute, but the match was settled when the Morris twins combined for the Dragons to score in the shadows of fulltime. Jamie Soward nailed a conversion under pressure to open up the 20-18 lead, and his side were able to control play for the last few minutes to claim an important victory.

Match Details
St George Illawarra Dragons 20 def Manly Sea Eagles 18
Round 11 - Friday May 23rd, 2008 7:45pm
Venue: Brookvale Oval
Referee: Jason Robinson
Half time : Sea Eagles 12-10
Crowd: 12,058

Manly Sea Eagles 18
Tries: David Williams, Steve Menzies, Michael Robertson
Goals: Matt Orford (3/3)
St George Illawarra Dragons 20
Tries: Beau Scott, Ben Hornby, Jason Nightingale, Brett Morris
Goals: Jamie Soward (2/4)

LeagueUnlimited.com Player of the Match
3 Points: Jamie Soward (Dragons)
2 Points: Brett Stewart (Sea Eagles)
1 Point: Rangi Chase (Dragons)

LeagueUnlimited.com Live Commentary
Welcome to Brookvale Oval for tonights clash between the Manly Sea Eagles and the St George Illawarra Dragons!

Matt Cooper has been ruled out for the Dragons tonight with a back injury - here are the confirmed team lists:

Sea Eagles: B Stewart, Robertson, Matai, Lyon, Williams; Menzies, Orford; Kite, Ballin, Perry, Watmough, G Stewart, Williamson. Bench: L'Estrange, Hall, Cuthbertson, Bryant

Dragons: B Morris, Nightingale, Gasnier, Stanley, J Morris; Soward, Hornby; Poore, Young, Ryles, Scott, Webb, Creagh. Bench: Setu, Reynoldson, Hunt, Chase

KICKOFF - We're underway!

3 min: Brett Morris kicks the ball ahead on only the first tackle with the Dragons 40 metres out ... it looks like he was about to knock-on and luckily managed to get a boot to it. Either way, the kick is easily cleaned up by the Sea Eagles defence.

6 min: Matt Orford puts a clearing kick out on the full, so the Dragons will start a set of six on the halfway line.

7 min: TRY St George Illawarra Dragons
Beau Scott easily pushes off Anthony Watmough (who is very groggy after an earlier accidental head clash with Josh Perry) and crosses the line for tonights opening try. Jamie Soward misses the conversion attempt.
St George Illawarra Dragons 4-0

10 min: Jamie Soward sparks the Dragons attack with a chip-and-chase that puts them in a strong attacking position before Anthony Watmough slightly redeems himself by catching a Soward short kick that flew at him like a rocket.

13 min: Brett Morris cleans up a Matt Orford cross-field kick, just ahead of the Manly chasers. Line drop-out coming up from the Dragons.

15 min: VIDEO REF - possible Sea Eagles try ...

15 min: TRY Manly Sea Eagles
Brett Stewart does very well to get outside Jason Nightingale before finding David Williams with an inside flick-pass, and Williams crashes across the line to score. Matt Orford nails the conversion attempt from the sideline, and Manly take the lead.
Manly Sea Eagles 6-4

21 min: Manly have just had four consecutive sets but haven't been able to add to their score.

23 min: TRY St George Illawarra Dragons
Jamie Soward launches a cross-field kick that is fumbled by Michael Robertson, and Ben Hornby is on hand to clean up the scraps and claim the try. Soward adds the extras.
St George Illawarra Dragons 10-6

26 min: The Dragons earn their first penalty of the night, but Jason Ryles drops the ball on the first tackle after the touch-finder.

27 min: Ben Hornby comes up with an intercept as Manly throw the ball around on attack but he can't get into the clear.

29 min: Steve Menzies grubbers through into the Dragons in-goal, but it doesn't look like any of his teammates knew the kick was on. Brett Morris easily shadows the ball over the dead ball line.

33 min: The Dragons have failed to complete their last five sets, handing plenty of good territory to the Sea Eagles - but can they take advantage?

34 min: TRY Manly Sea Eagles
Steve Menzies finds himself in a bit of space out wide, and he steps his way through the Dragons defence to score try number 169. Matt Orford converts.
Manly Sea Eagles 12-10

38 min: Chase Stanley makes a half-break down the touchline that ends with yet another dropped ball as the Manly defence catches up to him.

HALFTIME: Manly Sea Eagles 12 St George Illawarra Dragons 10

Manly have had plenty of chances (possession is in their favour by 59% to 41%) yet only find themselves 2 points ahead on the scoreboard - if they can get their attack to click into gear they should win this one by 50+. On the other hand, the Dragons are looking good once they get to Manly's tryline - but they can't hold on to the ball to get there often enough.

The second half is underway!

41 min: The Dragons start the second half exactly the same as they finished the first, with a dropped ball on their very first set of six.

48 min: Brett Morris does well to claim a high attacking kick from the Sea Eagles right underneath his own posts.

51 min: Steve Matai has steamrolled Jamie Soward after Soward had passed the ball. It's very late and doesn't look good - but play continues for a full set of six before a touchie comes on and eventually a penalty is awarded to the Dragons.

54 min: VIDEO REF - possible Dragons try ...

54 min: TRY St George Illawarra Dragons (Benefit of the doubt)
Jamie Soward launches a cross-field kick and plenty of players from both teams leap to claim it, and somehow Jason Nightingale comes away with the ball and claims the try. There was more than a hint of a Dragons knock-on, and even a question mark on whether Nightingale actually forced the ball, but the video ref still gives the green light. Soward misses the conversion attempt.
St George Illawarra Dragons 14-12

58 min: Rangi Chase makes a huge bust up the middle from dummy-half to put the Dragons back onto attack.

61 min: The Sea Eagles have a full attacking set inside the Dragons 20-metre line, but Heath L'Estrange throws a shocking pass from dummy half that bounces straight into the Dragons arms to spoil the chance.

64 min: NO TRY - Steve Menzies looks to finish off a pretty simple backline movement and nearly claims his second try of the night but loses the ball over the tryline.

69 min: VIDEO REF - possible Sea Eagles try ...

69 min: TRY Manly Sea Eagles
Michael Robertson claims a cross-field kick from Matt Orford five metres out from the tryline and squeezes across in the corner. Orford adds the extras from the sideline.
Manly Sea Eagles 18-14

72 min: VIDEO REF - possible Sea Eagles try ...

72 min: NO TRY - Brett Stewart is ruled to have knocked on as he claimed a try at the end of a last-tackle play that featured two pretty ordinary kicks and a couple of lucky bounces.

75 min: TRY St George Illawarra Dragons
Brett Morris finished off a slick backline movement after taking a pass from his brother Josh and scoring within easy kicking range. Jamie Soward lines up the conversion attempt to take the lead ....... and nails it!
St George Illawarra Dragons 20-18

80 min: Matt Orford tries a cross-field kick within his own half but the ball beats everyone and bounces into touch.

FULLTIME: Manly Sea Eagles 18 St George Illawarra Dragons 20

The Dragons almost did everything within their power to lose this one, but to their credit they've emerged with their fourth victory of the year - and coincidentally, their fourth victory against a top-four side.