Parramatta seemingly did their best to capitulate under pressure against the Raiders but the Eels found a way to win, albeit as ugly as possible.
The balmy Darwin weather saw plenty of dropped ball from the Eels which handed Canberra cheap field position.
The Raiders cashed in after they'd built pressure, with Bill Tupou finishing a simple back-line move down their right hand edge. Jarrod Croker added the extras and the Raiders led 6-0.
The Eels failed to build any kind of pressure through dropped balls and Canberra punished them when Croker crossed following a cross field bomb that was brought down by Edrick Lee and handed to the centre.
He missed the conversion and after 18 minutes, Canberra led 10-0.
Up until this point, Canberra were easily containing the Parramatta forwards, David Gower though was amongst the Eels' best through this period.
With Parramatta going nowhere, they shifted the ball to their left flank. Hayne took the ball, finding Semi Radradra in space.
The flying Fijian streaked down the touchline before popping the pass back to Hayne who touched down for his 99th four pointer.
Sandow's conversion saw the score move to 10-6 at half-time.
For nearly 50 minutes, both sides slogged it out with the Eels growing increasingly frustrated.
Bureta Faraimo looked to have bagged another try but it was ruled he had produced a double movement in grounding the ball.
Tim Mannah then looked to have broken his drought but was ruled to have knocked on in stealing the ball from Jarrod Croker.
As it has been for many years, the blue and golds looked to their co-captain and talismanic fullback, Jarryd Hayne, for the spark.
David Gower took the ball to the line before throwing a perfectly timed short ball to a flying Hayne.
The flying fullback decided to put on the after burners, screaming away from the cover defence and touching down for his 100th career try.
The four pointer put Hayne in illustrious company, becoming just the third Eel to pass three figures, behind Brett Kenny (110) and Luke Burt (124).
Sandow's conversion put the Eels into the lead 12-10, with a nervous eight minutes to defend the lead.
It seemed like Hayne's second try of the night clicked the Eels into gear.
Following the Raiders' kick-off, Parramatta made easy metres up-field. Finishing their set just ten metres out from the Canberra line.
Chris Sandow put in a kick behind the Raiders' line with Tepai Moeroa picking up the scraps and touching down for his second career try. Sandow's conversion saw the Eels finish the match off 18-10.
Next week the Eels host the out of sorts Canterbury Bulldogs at ANZ Stadium in another must-win clash.
Brad Arthur will want a much more committed and energetic performance than the one on display in Darwin.
See More: http://www.bluegoldglory.com.au/2014/08/09/5958/it-wasnt-easy
Replies
Next week the Eels host the out of sorts Canterbury Bulldogs at ANZ Stadium in another must-win clash.
and that's all that matters right now - if we lost - this match would be almost meaningless (except of course it is the dogs) - but BOTH teams will be fighting to keep their seasons alive
We WON and now we play the doggies in a season decider
I love it !!!!
Nobody denies a try to the flying burrito.
NOBODY!!!!
I think we'll play much better against the Dogs. Every week is our Grand Final now. Yep, here we go again...
Ye ugly win but i was impressed how they kept persisting. Kept getting turned away by the vid ref time after time but just kept coming back until the job was done. Also good to see that after going down 10 nil early we we didnt allow them to cross our line again. My biggest concern in the 2nd half at 10-6 was not so much if we would score again but that we didnt conceed again and we did'nt.
Unfortunately Hoppa let in 2nd Canberra try. Bureta had winger covered but Hoppa, instead of covering his centre, decided to assist Bureta leaving opposing centre clear run to line.
I think with our current side we will play badly at different stages but if we can play badly and still get a result that can only be a good thing. I rekon if we make the 8 all the pressure is off and we will play with more confidence. People can say what they want about the raiders but they played very well last night, probably one of their best games of the season. Thier defence was top rate for most of the night and i think they would have beaten a lot of sides the way they played last night.
Yep all the best sides do it.
We won, ugly? yes! a good sign? yes!
Teams that have success learn how to win when they aren't.
In the last 5 years we would always have lost that game, the fact that we won shows how far the team has come, they are gaining belief in themselves and their teammates.
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