A first half tryscoring blitz has helped the Northern Eagles down the Wests Tigers 42-18 at Brookvale Oval.
The Eagles scored six tries in the first half, and from then on the Tigers held little menace for the Manly side.

Centre Ben McDougall scored a hat trick of tries and Lenny Beckett bagged two,while Northern captain Steve Menzies grabbed a four pointer in his return to the side from Blues State of Origin duties.

The win moves the Eagles into the National Rugby League top eight at the expense of St George Illawarra, who were beaten 34-13 by the Sharks last night.

Wests, who have now lost five matches in succession, cling to their position inside the NRL top eight, eleven points behind league leaders the Bulldogs.

After dominating early possession a break by 100 gamer Albert Torrens created the opportunity for the Eagles first try. Wests sat back on their own tryline, and gave McDougall the opportunity to crash over past some weak defence by the Tigers.

Former Raider Luke Williamson added the extras, to make the lead 6-0 after eight minutes.

The Eagles kept venturing forward, and after a knock on by Wests fullback Joel Caine gave them successive sets of six, they looked to go further ahead with a try to front rower Danny Lima. The video referee ruled against Northern though, believing that Lima made a double movement.

Soon after the no-try, Northern bounced back forward and scored their second try. This time Wade Forrester was on the end of some wonderful ball movement, dummying past Kevin McGuinness and crossing in the corner.

Williamson couldn’t convert from the touchline, but the Eagles were ahead 10-0 after just 18 minutes.

The Tigers then buckled further, the rampaging Eagles laying on three exciting tries in the next ten minutes.

First Menzies crashed over past some Tigers ordinary defence, the skipper benefiting from a bruising cross-field run by winger John Hopoate. Then two minutes later hooker Jamie Goddard scored under the posts after a miraculous flick pass from Mal Kaufusi found Brendon Reeves in support.

McDougall then crossed out in the corner for his double, opening up a commanding 26-0 lead for the home side with ten minutes left before the break.

Just before halftime, Northern put the game away for good, Lenny Beckett streaking over for the converted try to give the Eagles an unassailable 32-0 lead after 40 minutes.

A lot of sting went out of the game for the Eagles after the break. They found it hard to be as intense with a 32-0 lead on the scoreboard.

The Eagles were stung into action though after a converted try by Wests Five eighth Matt Seers put the Tigers on the scoreboard. Beckett grabbed his double to make the lead 36-6 before the Tigers scored two more consolation tries to halfback Ben Jeffries and second rower Steve Crouch.

With little time left on the clock, McDougall was rewarded for his pwerhous game with a hat trick of tries, converted by Williamson to make the final score 42-18 in favour of the Northern Eagles.

Wests have now lost five in a row, and the pressure is on coach Terry Lamb to turn their faltering season around

Brookvale16 June 2002.

Crowd: . 10,574

Referee: Matt Cecchin

Eagles Team:

Brendon Reeves,
Lenny Beckett
Albert Torrens,
Ben MacDougall
John Hopoate,
Luke Williamson
Luke Dorn,
Danny Lima
Jamie Goddard,
David Westley,
Wade Forrester
Nik Kosef
Steve Menzies.

Replacements:
Jason King
Mal Kaufusi,
Mark Shipway
Chad Randall.