Daly Cherry-Evans of the Sea Eagles on the charge against Solomone Kata of the Warriors in Auckland. Source: Getty Images

The match was a battle of attrition and the Warriors’ defeat was compounded by star halfback Shaun Johnson being taken to hospital for scans.

Johnson was injured in the 25th minute scoring a typically mercurial try in which he stepped past three defenders, but his left ankle got trapped as he reached out to dot down.

The Warriors also lost second rower Bodene Thompson in the second spell.

Manly were even more badly hit.

Both centre Steve Matai and bench forward Luke Burgess went off in the opening half.

When backrowers Ligi Sao and Tom Symonds were also injured, the visitors played most of the last quarter without a bench.

Manly arrived at Mt Smart Stadium precariously placed in 13th position and after a midweek report that the club wanted to release 14 players at the end of the season.

But they made most of the running and, in prop Jake Trbojevic, they had a player who gave them plenty of go-forward.

The loss was the second in a row for the Warriors, who are in danger of dropping out of the top eight.

With the scores tied at 6-6 at half-time, Manly then broke the game open with three tries in eight minutes.

Winger Jorge Taufua got the first by powering over.

The Warriors then failed to clean up a Daly Cherry-Evans kick and fullback Brett Stewart was on hand to dot down.

Taufua completed his brace with an athletic put-down.

Stewart got his own double with a kick-and-chase to make it 13 tries in 12 matches against the Warriors.

Substitute forward Albert Vete replied for the home side, but Manly’s Matt Ballin went over from dummy half to add the icing for visitors.

Cherry-Evans, who started after failing to finish the loss to North Queensland with a shoulder injury, also produced the kick that got his side on the board in the 10th minute.

Trbojevic was the tryscorer; the beneficiary of a superb off-load from Sao.

The Sea Eagles continued to threaten, but were pegged back when Johnson provided his costly piece of magic.

Storm shine in Napier to down Dragons

Hometown hero Tohu Harris had a hand in two tries as the Melbourne Storm’s Napier experiment paid off in style, with them downing St George Illawarra 22-4 at McLean Park tonight.

A crowd of 14,532 witnessed the first NRL match in the New Zealand Hawke’s Bay city and were treated to a masterclass by the Storm at their efficient best to condemn the Dragons to their seventh straight loss.

The only negative for Craig Bellamy’s men was the sight of Cooper Cronk leaving the field late on with what appeared to be a quadriceps injury.

After an error-strewn opening on a greasy surface, the desperate Dragons looked to have taken the lead in the 27th minute when a wide cut-out pass from Benji Marshall sent Jason Nightingale over in the corner only for it to be called back for a forward pass.

The Storm made them pay a minute later when Nelson Asofa-Solomona bullocked his way over from short range to chalk up his first NRL try.

When Marshall tried to repeat his earlier pass three minutes before the break, Hawke’s Bay-born Harris was alert to the danger. Playing in front of his family sitting in the aptly-named Harris Stand, he intercepted the pass to send a flying Marika Koroibete, who had been denied earlier in the half, away on an 80m dash to the line.

The 12-0 half-time deficit was perhaps a little harsh on the Dragons who had matched their pre-game talk of an improved defensive effort in the Storm’s opening set.

Matt Duffie defused a testing bomb for his first touch in a Storm jersey in 847 days before almost being driven back in-goal. The Red V kept up the intensity to force Cronk to kick from inside his own 20m.

They were again to the fore soon after the interval with five tacklers combining to thwart a hard-charging Kevin Proctor from extending the Storm lead.

But they struggled to get anything going on attack and seconds after a chant of “Melbourne, Melbourne” rang out Proctor latched onto a short ball from Cronk to extend the ‘home’ side’s lead 15 minutes after the resumption.

Harris, who designed the one-off jersey worn by the Storm, then had his second assist of the night to retrieve a knockdown from a Cronk bomb and send Mahe Fonua over in the corner to put them up 22-0 and the result beyond doubt.

They still had enough time to have tries to Blake Green and a second to Fonua ruled out for forward passes as the fire went out of the Dragons before they claimed a late consolation to centre Peter Mata’utia.

Rabbitohs rout hapless Knights

A relentless South Sydney side have flexed their premiership muscle by destroying a hapless Newcastle 52-6 at ANZ Stadium in Sydney tonight.

On the same day the Knights lost key playmaker Jarrod Mullen for the season, the Rabbitohs recorded their biggest ever victory over Newcastle, surpassing last year’s 40-point rout in Cairns.

The win consolidates the Rabbitohs’ spot in the top four, while Newcastle’s loss, their 12th in 14 games, all but ends their faint finals hopes.

Skipper Greg Inglis and Alex Johnston both bagged hat-tricks, centre Dylan Walker recorded a double and hooker Issac Luke ran rampant behind a dominant Souths pack.

If it wasn’t for Adam Reynolds’ off-night with the boot — he nailed just six goals from 10 attempts — the Rabbitohs would have surpassed their biggest ever win at ANZ Stadium.

An upset initially looked to be on the cards when Knights prop Kade Snowden crashed over untouched in just the 2nd minute.

But it took only three minutes for their dream start to turn into a nightmare, as Rabbitohs centre Dylan Walker finished off a 60-metre blindside play that also saw opposite three-quarter James McManus’s night end with concussion.

The early setback seemed to flick the switch for the defending premiers, with Johnston burning Chanel Mata’utia in the 10th, John Sutton offloading for Inglis in the 15th and then Bryson Goodwin going over on play one of a scrum win in the 23rd.

Co-owner Russell Crowe was watching on from the stands and the only opponent the Rabbitohs seemed to be playing was the clock.

The carnage continued when Inglis stretched out to nab his second try in the 27th. Walker notched his brace in the 33rd, before Inglis celebrated his hat-trick in the 40th by bringing out his goanna celebration.

By the end of a first half, the Rabbitohs led 36-6.

The points somewhat dried in the second half, with Thomas Burgess crashing through in the 49th, Johnston soaring over Mata’utia in the 59th and then Walker effecting his own hat-trick in the 73rd.

AAP