Rare kicking duel that won’t be seen for ‘decades’ highlights bizarre sequence

The Sea Eagles have attempted to engage in a rare kicking duel with the Panthers, with the ploy backfiring.

The bizarre sequence begun when Panthers half Nathan Cleary sent down a regulation kick on tackle five which was hauled in by Sea Eagles fullback Reuben Garrick.

Instead of running the ball back, Garrick strangely kicked it back to the Panthers, which was recovered by Dylan Edwards.

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Fox League’s Warren Smith couldn’t hide his amazement, even

“We’ve got a force em’ back kicking dual. What about this.

“C’mon Dylan, pump one up the other end.

Edwards didn’t, instead running the ball back and passing it to Stephen Crichton who quickly passed it on to Sunia Turuva who in turn found a gap and ran 50 metres to score.

“Manly go the kicking duel, Penrith bank the points,” Smith said.

“That was interesting, we’ve seen some wily stuff tonight. It’s Reuben Garrick, well, he thinks it’s the 80s,” Michael Ennis said.

The drama didn’t end there with the Bunker taking a look at the try for a possible obstruction, before giving it the all clear.

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“If it was a set plan that they were going to go with a force em’ back kicking duel, it didn’t work on this occasion,” Smith said.

“Is that the last kicking duel we see for three decades, Mick?”

“I saw nothing there from Reuben Garrick that any other coach would have written down and said ‘we will try that over the weekend’,” Ennis replied.

“It was like Reuben was stuck in a time machine and was back in the 70s,” Matty Johns said on The Late Show with Matty Johns.