Bulldogs pull off stunning comeback in last-minute thriller

It was a dead rubber for Manly and Canterbury but no one told the players as Origin star Matt Burton added another tale to his legend.

Matt Burton is something. Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

A series of towering bombs and a 78th minute field goal from the prodigious left leg of Bulldogs five-eighth Matt Burton has seen Canterbury come from behind to notch a 21-20 victory over Manly at Accor Stadium on Friday night.

In rain described variously as “heavy”, “very heavy” and “torrential”, Burton peppered Manly’ fullback Kaeo Weekes all evening.

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Yet the rookie, in his first starting run in the No. 1, was safe all evening – until he wasn’t.

With three minutes to play a Burton rainmaker bounced off Weekes’s chest and stuck a dagger into Manly’s.

The visitors were arguably the better side and led for the majority of the match only to see Canterbury twice peg back their lead.

Manly opened the scoring when Toafofoa Sipley busted the line off a Dylan Walker inside ball, found Walker backing up before the New Zealand-bound 27-year-old, wearing No. 13 and playing a position effectively ‘second five-eighth’, dished neatly back to Daly Cherry-Evans for a fine four-pointer.

Then the rain really came down. La Nina was back – with a vengeance. And Accor Stadium suits wondered afresh: How much again was the quote for a 200-square metre perspex pergola?

The Dogs came back to claim the win. Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

Yet Manly belied the conditions with slick ball-play resulting in Christian Tuipolotu going over out wide on the right.

When free agent Martin Taupau, in the last of 155 games for the Sea Eagles, rumbled over near the posts the Manly fans – of whom there appeared to be nine – were cock-a-hoop.

The Bulldogs gained momentum and territory on the back of penalties and repeat sets before Braidon Burns scored his 14th NRL try in 54 games. Matt Burton landed a bomb from the paint and the Dogs fans found voice.

As the rain continued its impersonation of an airborne sea, diminutive darter Zach Dockar-Clay, 27, scored his first try for the Bulldogs with a squirt from dummy-half.

And at halftime it was Manly by four.

After a successful challenge against a scrumbase knock-on, Manly looked set to stretch the lead when Name Weekes, in his first start at fullback, slid over in traffic. Alas for Manly the bunker found separation of ball and hand.

When Aaron Schoupp plucked an intercept from a Foran pass, the centre ran 95 metres to tie the scores.

Manly’s season ended in a nightmare. Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

There followed a dogfight. Cherry-Evans and Burton traded spiral bombs and probing punts. Burton unleashed a dropout like a stinging 2-iron that Koula did unbelievably well to control.

Haumole Olakau’atu broke the deadlock when he fell on a Cherry-Evans grubber.

The rain stopped. Manly made big metres up the middle. Burton continued his rainmakers. Weekes continued to defuse them.

Until he didn’t, and Kyle Flanagan scored in the 75th minute to tie the game up. Burton semi-shanked the conversion.

Burton went high again – and Weekes coughed it up. And the Bulldogs Army, who’d never been in front on the scoreboard, were up as one.

Originally published as Bulldogs pull off stunning comeback in last-minute thriller