Doubles to Ken Sio and Jarryd Hayne led the Eels to a 42-24 win over the Cronulla Sharks. The win ends a two match losing streak for the Blue and Golds but there's still plenty of room for improvement.
Semi Radradra crossed first for the Eels, taking his tally to 11 tries following a slick back-line movement, with Hayne delivering the final pass.
Sosaia Feki responded for Cronulla before a Wade Graham try put Cronulla ahead 12-4. However, a vintage Jarryd Hayne try took the Eels to within two points.
Hayne took the ball to the line before handing it to Willie Tonga. Tonga was seemingly covered by Luke Lewis but he was able to slip the pass to Hayne who beat four Cronulla players to touch down beside the posts.
A Chris Sandow chip and regather then put the Eels ahead 16-12. Ken Sio's first try then ensured the Eels led 22-12 at half-time.
Will Hopoate then crossed after some superb lead-up work from Jarryd Hayne who drew two defenders before popping the final pass.
Some lacklustre Eels defence allowed Cronulla back into the match with Isaac De Gois following plenty of tough yards by Paul Gallen.
It appeared Cronulla were going to overwhelm the Eels before Willie Tonga took an intercept to race 90 metres and dent the Sharks' comeback. A late Michael Gordon try gave Cronulla brief hope before Ken Sio bagged his second.
With the clock winding down Cronulla went to their right edge but some scrappy handling saw Jarryd Hayne swoop on the loose ball and race 70 metres to score untouched.
Brad Arthur voiced his concerns after the match, stating the Eels were soft through the middle in periods and they need to be much more clinical in closing out matches if they want to mix it with the best.
It's back to the 1970's next week when the Eels play host to the St. George Illawarra Dragons on Saturday afternoon with the match seemingly heading for a shootout between Josh Dugan and Jarryd Hayne for the NSW fullback position.
See More: http://www.bluegoldglory.com.au/2014/05/12/3623/hayne-plane-fires
Replies
Nice Blog Super , all except 1 part .
Hayne vs Dugan = no contest
Dugan should not even get a thought of mention HE IS USELESS .
EME
Sharks went to their "right edge". But other than that good summary.
PS: I thought it worthy to mention our low penalty and error counts (relatively speaking). Our defense is still problematic, but I think we can out shoot teams if we don't concede territory and opportunity to penalty and error. We may see a bunch of Parra 30 something opposition 20 something scores on that pattern (softish D, sparkling attack, low error/penalty). But teams like the Dogs will roll us on that pattern no doubt.
Hayne's versatility is his own worst enemy when it comes to NSW selections. He needs to say publicly "I want to play fullback for NSW" rather than "Id be happy anywhere in the blues team", because it is obviously his preferred position and one where he thrives.
From my perspective he should be No.1 in the blues, but im not going to go as far as to say Dugan is useless. Its strange in the aftermath of last year's series all the talk that came out about how well Dugan played, and everyone seemed to forget that Hayne was a standout in game 1 for the blues and had he not been injured no one would really be talking about Dugan at all. And why can't Dugan be picked on the wing?? Because he is not a winger? - Neither is Hayne, yet they haven't hesitated to select him there for last 8 years. If NSW are serious about winning a series they need to pick Hayne in an important position, the best of which would be FB.
Having said that, his defensive technique troubles me at times. There is nothing wrong with his attack or even his effort (which has been questioned before) right now, but i hate seeing him miss those one on one tackles that he really should be able to make. He has the potential, before last years origin series i think he mate about 10 try-saving tackles in 4 games and it was amazing to watch, but hes just faded away from it a bit this year. Last night for example, some attempts were pretty weak e.g. the first cronulla try and the wade graham "no try" - he should have made those. If i were hayne id be looking to practice my one-on-one technique and make a few of those tackles to prove to the selectors that he is truly the only reasonable selection for fullback.
Plot twist: Daley selects Hopoate in Fullback and Hayne on the wing.