Rugby League-NRL Weekend Wrap Up after Round 16

Enigmatic Lyon Torments Knights

GOSFORD, NSW—NSW's loss was Manly's gain as enigmatic five-eighth Jamie Lyon piloted the Sea Eagles back to the top of the NRL ladder with a starring role in the side's 28-12 win over Newcastle at Bluetongue Stadium.

Lyon grabbed headlines for all the wrong reasons last week when it emerged that he'd told NSW coach Craig Bellamy that he would prefer not to answer an SOS call from the Blues before the second State of Origin clash with Queensland.

But after calls from several rival clubs to have Lyon stood down against Newcastle -- like all those playing in the Origin decider on Wednesday night -- the former Blues and Kangaroos star refused to comment on his controversial stance.

Instead, Lyon let his football do the talking and proceeded to torment the depleted Knights with a match-winning display.

Lyon's 57th-minute solo try clinched an important victory for Manly, who leapfrogged the Sydney Roosters to regain top spot after round 16.

The centre-cum-pivot's influential effort even attracted praise from Knights coach Brian Smith, his former mentor at Parramatta before he walked out on the Eels.

"I liked his no-look pass. He did about 10 of them," Smith said.

"It was a very effective little play. He's a smart player."

In all, the Sea Eagles ran in five tries to three to deny the Knights, who were brave without their Origin stars Danny Buderus, Kurt Gidley and Ben Cross.

Manly led 10-8 at halftime and took control in the second half with tries to Anthony Watmough, Lyon and Steve Bell.

Smith refused to use the absence of his Origin trio as an excuse.

"I think we got beaten by a team that gave us a bit of lesson," Smith said.

Giant Manly prop Brent Kite, who was in trouble for a high shot against the New Zealand Warriors last week, again found himself on report for a high tackle on Knights halfback Jarrod Mullen in the 25th minute. However, there didn't appear to be too much in the tackle.

Veteran Manly forward Steve Menzies, who joined Brad Fittler on 336 premiership games -- second only to Bulldogs great Terry Lamb's 349 -- came into the match earlier than expected after Luke Williamson suffered a suspected fractured cheek in a head clash after just 15 minutes.

He delivered the final pass for Steve Matai's try just before halftime which gave Manly a 10-8 lead after Newcastle had grabbed the lead 8-6 courtesy of tries to wingers Cooper Vuna and James McManus.

Menzies finished the game with 23 tackles, six hit ups and 111 metres gained in a fine display.

For Newcastle, McManus capped a strong game by scoring his second try just before fulltime while hooker Matt Hilder came up with 42 tackles, 27 in the first half, as Newcastle's attack was blunted by their heavy defensive workload.

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Warriors Win as Hodgson Misses Sideline Conversion

Ian Henderson of the Warriors dives in to score a try. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

SYDNEY—The New Zealand Warriors have beaten Wests Tigers 28-26 in an NRL thriller at Leichhardt Oval.

Tigers fullback Brett Hodgson missed a sideline conversion after the bell which, had it been successful, would have sent the match into golden-point extra time.

The Warriors, missing State of Origin stars Steve Price and Brent Tate, held on for victory in Ruben Wiki's 300th match after the Tigers scored two tries in the final three-and-a-half minutes in an entertaining clash.

The rare away win boosts the Warriors' playoff ambitions but harms the Tigers chances of making the finals.

Inspired by Wiki's landmark game, the Warriors peeled open some feeble Tigers defence in the first half to lead 16-0 after only 29 minutes.

Hooker Ian Henderson scooted over from dummy-half for the first try in the ninth minute - barely being touched as he found plenty of space behind the ruck.

The Kiwis were in again 15 minutes later but this time the final pass from Grant Rovelli looked like it drifted forward before Sonny Fia crashed over in the corner.

Warriors halfback Nathan Fien then brushed off some ordinary goal-line defence five minutes later before Tigers playmaker Benji Marshall provided a touch of magic after collecting the ball in the middle of the paddock 30m out from his line.

With little on, Marshall danced around three defenders before shedding a fourth seven minutes from halftime.

Just as the defence looked to have closed him down, he delivered his trademark flick pass to barnstorming winger Taniela Tuiaki, who sprinted 50m to reduce the deficit to 16-6 at halftime.

The Tigers looked like making further inroads in the early minutes of the second half but Lance Hohaia shut down the long-range movement with a trysaving tackle on Liam Fulton.

The home side only had to wait until the 50th minute with Robbie Farah stretching out for the tryline following another controversial call with the ball appearing to go well forward from Mathew Head to Tuiaki.

Two minutes later, the Warriors looked like self-destructing with Aidan Kirk dropping the ball near his line but Head pushed the pass and the New Zealanders mopped up the mess.

But the Tigers were full of running by now and the 56th minute Chris Lawrence stormed over out wide.

The Warriors rallied eight minutes later with Marshall's being caught out in defence as Hohaia sprinted clear to end a brilliant 75m movement.

Warrior Sam Rapira then capitalised on a Tigers error by bumping off opposite number Bronson Harrison close to the line and crossing near the posts for a subsequent 28-16 lead in the 69th minute.

Tuiaki breathed life back into the match after being put through a big hole by Marshall as the Tigers moved back within a converted try with three minutes remaining.

After plenty of adventurous play, Tuiaki scored his third try of the match in the corner but Hodgson pressure shot was off target.

The Tigers and Warriors both the bye next week.

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Huge Comeback by Souths to Beat Cowboys

The Rabbitohs celebrate after winning the match against the Cowboys. (Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)

TOWNSVILLE, Qld—South Sydney scored the second biggest comeback victory in NRL history with a miraculous 29-28 win over North Queensland at Dairy Farmers Stadium.

Souths looked gone for all money with the lead blowing out to 28-4 in the 49th minute but put on four tries to level the scores in the 75th.

Rookie Chris Sandow then nailed a field goal in the last minute but the drama didn't end there.

Cowboys fullback Anthony Watts managed to squeeze in a field goal attempt of his own after the siren, only to have it charged down by a Souths defender.

The comeback win was second only in the NRL to the Cowboys' own effort in 1998 when they beat Penrith 36-28 after being down 26-0 at halftime.

Souths began well thanks to the return of star recruit Craig Wing however the visitors were unable to capitalise on the early attacking opportunities and the Cowboys were ahead 12-4 at halftime thanks to two converted tries.

In a nine minute blitz after halftime the Cowboys moved to 28-4 with Ash Graham scoring a double and centre partner Ben Harris bagging a four-pointer of his own.

Souths then launched their comeback with three tries in quick succession to Fetuli Talanoa, Beau Champion and Wing to bring the lead back to just six points in the 61st minute.

Luke Capewell crossed in the 74th minute and Issac Luke levelled with a sideline conversion before Sandow's clincher.

South Sydney coach Jason Taylor was pleased with the win but not with how his side came to be 24 points down in the first place.

"It was an amazing comeback and a great performance in the end but the last half an hour of what we did before that wasn't good enough," Taylor said.

"We won't dwell on that here, it was a great victory in the end but we have got to play from the start and we certainly didn't.

Despite the 24 point deficit Taylor never lost belief that his side could mount a comeback because of their recent penchant for putting on quick points.

"You never give up completely ... because what we have done the last few weeks," he said.

"We are showing that we can score some tries - earlier in the year we definitely would have been gone."

North Queensland coach Ian Millward said his side, who are last on the ladder after nine straight defeats, were shattered.

"The boys are absolutely devastated, there is not much I can report on," he said.

"If you have been involved in sport you can imagine how they feel.

"They played really well there for long periods and controlled the game and the momentum swung and we had to do a lot of defending in the second half."

The Cowboys' player crisis is set to worsen with representative forward Carl Webb taken to hospital for scans on a suspected broken right ankle sustained midway through the first half.

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NRL Collated Results and Standings-Round 16

Sydney Roosters 24 – Sydney Bulldogs 14

SYDNEY ROOSTERS 24 (B Grose S Kenny-Dowall S Perrett A Roberts S Sa tries A Roberts 2 goals) bt BULLDOGS 14 (H El Masri A Taumata T Winitana tries H El Masri goal) at Sydney Football Stdm. Referee: J Maxwell. Crowd: 9,271.

Penrith Panthers 12 – Brisbane Broncos 12

PENRITH 12 (M Jennings L Lewis tries S Rodney 2 goals) drew BRISBANE 12 (C Parker D Taylor tries M Ennis 2 goals) at CUA Stadium. Referee: G Badger. Crowd: 9,963.

St George Illawarra Dragons 26 – Gold Coast Titans 22

ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA 26 (B Hornby M Lett B Morris C Stanley tries J Soward 5 goals) bt GOLD COAST 22 (B Delaney B Jeffery L O'Dwyer M Rogers tries M Rogers 3 goals) at Skilled Park. Referee: B Sutton. Crowd: 26,453.

Manly Sea Eagles 28 – Newcastle Knights 12

MANLY 28 (S Bell J Lyon S Matai A Watmough D Williams tries M Orford 4 goals) bt NEWCASTLE 12 (J McManus 2 C Vuna tries) at Bluetongue Stadium. Referee: S Hayne. Crowd: 13,798.

South Sydney Rabbitohs 29 – North Queensland Cowboys 28

SOUTH SYDNEY 29 (R Asotasi L Capewell B Champion F Talanoa C Wing tries I Luke 4 goals C Sandow field goal) bt NORTH QUEENSLAND 28 (A Graham 2 R Cashmere B Harris J Williams tries J Williams 4 goals) at Dairy Farmers Stdm. Referee: T De Las Heras. Crowd: 15,631.

New Zealand Warriors 28 – Wests Tigers 26

NZ WARRIORS 28 (S Fai N Fien I Henderson L Hohaia S Rapira tries L Hohaia 2 M Witt 2 goals) bt WESTS TIGERS 26 (T Tuiaki 3 R Farah C Lawrence tries B Hodgson 3 goals) at Leichhardt Oval. Referee: S Lyons. Crowd: 15,027.

Parramatta Eels 24 – Melbourne Storm 22

PARRAMATTA 24 (K Inu J Reddy T Tautai T Williams tries L Burt 4 goals) bt MELBOURNE 22 (S Manu 2 C Cronk J Tomane tries S Turner 2 C Cronk goals) at Parramatta Stadium. Referee: B Cummins. Crowd: 12,597.

Playing Monday, Cronulla Sharks v Canberra Raiders