Parramatta went within three minutes of a massive upset against the Sea Eagles, with a late try sinking the Eels 22 to 18 at Brookvale.
The match started disastrously for Parramatta when they onceded a ridiculously simple try in the first five minutes. From an attacking scrum, Manly simply ran a couple of well-timed decoys and Manly found themselves with a big overlap that saw Michael Robertson go over in the corner.
Earlier this year, the Eels might have dropped their bundle but this is a much more mature, committed Parramatta side and they quickly responded when Jarryd Hayne sucked in Manly’s defence and then threw a 20 metre cut-out pass to an unmarked Luke Burt. Burt couldn’t replicate Jamie Lyon’s sideline conversion leaving the score at six to four.
Hayne was looking threatening and the Eels were testing the Sea Eagles defence with consistency and they probably should have scored when Hayne put Ryan Morgan away but the young centre failed to pick out his support. Instead the ball went down the other end, and against the run of play David Williams was able to score wide. This time Lyon couldn’t convert leaving a try as the margin.
Jacob Loko was another Eels who was looking dangerous and he made a nice break and then cleverly chipped inside for Justin Horo in support. Horo soccered the ball ahead and Loko was first to the ball, and despite a last ditch attempted tackle from Keiran Foran, Loko was able to reach out and put down the ball with one hand.
Unfortunately tonight, the Eels kept underdoing their good work with sloppy defence. Luke Burt fell asleep at marker leaving Brett Stuart taking on Casey McGuire one-on-one from marker and the former NSW fullback was too strong.
It really was end-to-end stuff, a big Justin Horo break put the Eels on the attack again and Jeff Robson threaded a grubber through for Ben Smith to score. Luke Burt’s conversion made it a two point ballgame and then for the first time, the Eels went to the front when Jarryd Hayne floated another cut-out pass out wide and Ryan Morgan passed inside to a trailing Horo who got over for a try.
However in a heart-breaking moment, Manly threw the ball out to their right putting David Williams into a half-break. Luke Burt came across in defence but Williams kicked inside and Foran won the chase to the ball, touching down just inside of the deadball line.
It’s a massive loss in terms of position on the table. Instead of being just one point from sixth, the Eels now sit in 12th. However, no Parramatta fan will be unimpressed with the effort from Parramatta, who have now tested two of the best teams in the competition with terrific back-to-back performances. They’ve certainly deserved more than one point from those two valiant efforts.
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That's two consecutive games now, against the Dragons and now Manly, that the Eels have almost come out on top, and pushed them both to the limit.
Can't wait for next weeks game with the Raiders.
Many great things out of this game. What still worries me is the mistakes Hayne makes at crucial times... Yes he does good things too..
Is it ok if I go and have a little cry now? :( :(
I really thought we were going to win that game - hats off to Benny, Horo and Hayne though, some nice work there boys.
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