The win has put Parramatta back in touch with the top eight and, although they face a tough encounter against the Dragons next week, the following week’s bye should mean they hover around the eight for the next couple of weeks.
As was the case, in their last home win against the Cowboys, the Eels had to do it by chasing - again right from the early minutes. Parramatta have seemed to be on the end of a rash of a series of poor calls this year, and this game started out with what looked like another howler going against the Eels when Casey McGuire was pulled up for a forward pass that looked to have clearly travelled backwards out of the hands. That put a stop to some nice momentum the Eels had, working their way down the field and instead gave the Titans handy field position to launch a counter-attack. However, if the Eels have had some bad calls, the bigger issue has been that their defence has not stood up in reply and minor decisions inevitably have turned into big ones. And so it was again, the Titans swept the ball to their left and despite the Eels sliding well enough to have players there to combat the attack, a simple step inside from Steve Michaels beat Jeff Robson and the try was scored, which Scott Prince converted from wide.
Parramatta again had the call go against them, perhaps more justifiably this time, when Fuifui Moimoi got the ball over the line but only succeeded in planting the pill down on the boot of a Titans defenders.
The Eels had plenty of possession and went close on a number of occasions before they finally stretched the ball out to the player who will likely be their main strike weapon out wide for the next few years, Jacon Loko. With Justin Horo running a nice decoy, Loko was too big and fast for the Titans defence and went over for his first NRL try. Luke Burt, unfortunately, pushed the conversion wide but the Eels were at least looking like they were in the game.
Justin Horo, who was much better today made a big break but Jordan Atkins took a poor option and went himself instead of spinning it wide, and then Taniela Lasalo lost the ball. The Titans then made a counter-break and also probably should have scored but for failing to deliver the final pass.
However, it was only a temporary reprieve after Daniel Mortimer copped a suspect knock-on call and then missed a tackle on Greg Bird who barged over to put the Titans up 12 to four, following Prince’s conversion.
With the clock ticking down towards the end of half-time, Parramatta were deep in the red zone when Jeff Robson knocked on. That looked like it might close out the half for the Eels, but some quick hands from Luke Burt put Etu Uaisele away down the flank. From the proceeding play, Jeff Robson spotted plenty of space behind the Titans defence and chipped for Burt flying through, however the ball ricocheted off the post and Robson trailing through picked up the loose ball and touched down under the posts. Burt converted to reduce the deficit to 12 to ten, as the half-time siren sounded.
Parramatta started the second half making a couple of errors and subsequently were forced to endure tremendous pressure. For maybe the first time this year, though, their defense was resolute and they held out the Titans for a good five minutes of being heavily under the pump.
However, all that strong on-line defence was undone when William Zillman scored a soft-try in which he beat five awful tackle attempts to score a solo try under the posts, having taking advantage of an earlier Mortimer error. That left the score at 18 to ten and Parramatta had it all to do.
We were fortunate when the Titans had a try out wide called back, with the final pass from Prince judged forward. We were even more fortunate, when the Titans had a strange penalty awarded against them for walking off the mark. That gave Parramatta a rare second half opportunity to attack and Luke Burt delivered a nicely-timed pass to Joel Reddy who ran into the hole to score and reduce the margin back to just two at 18 to 16.
We looked to have hit the lead when Luke Burt chipped, regathered and Etu Uaisele was on the end of some sharp passing but Ben Smith was unfortunately ruled offside. However, the Eels would not be denied and in the final minute Shane Shackleton dived on a Mortimer kick to come up with the winning try, which Burt converted.
The win marked Parramatta’s first in two years without Jarryd Hayne and showed that this side has plenty of heart even if they’re sometimes short on class.
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Replies
wow great finish!!
The win gives us some confidence against the Dragons next week. If we can win that one, there's still some hope of semi final football. The boys are trying but their execution was poor today. I don't mean to be too harsh on Morts, but surely he must be struggling to hold his spot.
Why not try Burty at 5/8? He was easily our best player today and his experience and creativity could be useful closer to the ruck.
We won, albeit ugly, but the boys and SK will take it regardless.
Are you serious??? Morts was fantastic today. Robson was the average half.
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