Manly’s 26-5 win over Northern Suburbs marred by ugly kicking incident

MANLY centre Malietoa Hingano could face a ban for kicking a rival player in Sunday afternoon’s Shute Shield win against Northern Suburbs.

Malietoa Hingano faces a trip to the judiciary this week.

MANLY centre Malietoa Hingano could face a ban for kicking a rival player in Sunday afternoon’s Shute Shield win against Northern Suburbs.

The Marlins retained top spot in the competition following a dominant 26-5 victory at North Sydney Oval, though it was soured by Hingano’s sin-binning on full-time after he lashed at a Norths player on the ground with his boot following a breakdown tussle.

Referee Edward Martin described Hingano’s actions as “unacceptable” before sending Manly’s No.13 to the bin, and the tournament’s judiciary will assess the incident this week.

Norths captain Michael Wells said niggle was to be expected between the sides.

“We wanted to win, they wanted to win, boys will be boys,” Wells said.

It was otherwise business as usual for Shute Shield’s only undefeated side, who scored four tries to one to go four points clear of rivals Eastwood and Warringah on the table.

Manly skipper Ed Gower was far from impressed with his team’s performance despite the five competition points.

“There were great individual efforts rather than a team performance that got that win,” Gower said.

“We’re obviously happy with the win but we’ve got a lot to work on.”

After Eastwood and Warringah recorded wins on Saturday, Manly needed to win their seventh straight game to reclaim top spot on Sunday.

Sydney University sits fourth, while a resurgent Southern Districts is now fifth.

Warringah snatched a thrilling 34-32 victory over West Harbour at Concord Oval, scoring three tries in the final 10 minutes.

Eastwood trailed at half-time before defeating Parramatta 35-24, with Nick Batger scoring a double.

Penrith was on the verge of a huge upset when they led Eastern Suburbs at half-time but experience shone through, with Waratahs players Brendan McKibbin (two conversions) and Tala Gray (one try) ensuring the Beasties prevailed 35-30.

University was not troubled by Gordon, cantering home 46-7.

In a see-sawing contest at Coogee Oval, Southern Districts overcame a determined Randwick to win 30-22.

Denny Godinet scored two tries for the Rebels while Ben Connelly and Chris O’Reilly also crossed in the win, which saw Souths rise above Parramatta and Randwick on the ladder.

Originally published as Manly’s 26-5 win over Northern Suburbs marred by ugly kicking incident