Hiku bags four as home side cruises to an easy victory.
Manly centre Peta Hiku celebrated his re-signing with four tries as the Sea Eagles put the Canberra Raiders to the sword at Brookvale Oval on Sunday.
Hiku, who signed a three-year extension on Friday, scored a first-half hat-trick before adding another in the second half to help his side to a 54-18 win over a hapless Canberra outfit.
The Raiders’ only points of the first half came when Reece Robinson went 90 metres after Brett Stewart fumbled a pass four minutes from the break, meaning the Sea Eagles went to the sheds with a 42-4 lead.
The Raiders actually managed first points after the break when Jarrod Croker got another intercept and went almost the length of the field for a try to make it 42-10 after 53 minutes.
But Hiku, who looks likely to be selected for the Kiwis for Friday’s Test against Australia, struck back with his fourth try five minutes later before Jorge Taufua finished off a freakish team try from a kick return with 13 minutes left to rub some more salt in the Raiders’ wounds.
Canberra five-eighth Jack Wighton and dummy-half Josh McCrone crossed for consolation tries in the last five minutes to make the final scoreline slightly more flattering but coach Ricky Stuart would no doubt have been fuming.
Manly half-back Daly Cherry-Evans was instrumental in almost all his team’s four-pointers as he staked one last claim to retain his spot in Tim Sheens’s Kangaroos squad.
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