Parramatta's reliance on the brilliance of Jarryd Hayne was again evident, but with Hayne mis-firing more than he hit, the Eels attack faltered and their normally reliable defence was ripped apart by the Roosters who have stood up as genuine premiership contenders.
The full house sign was up at Parramatta Stadium, but the Eels have been ordinary at home all year. And it was a more than ordinary start as the Roosters put on three quick tries to have the Eels behind the eight ball before they really got the opportunity to settled into the match.
The first came as the normall staunch defence of Jeff Robson failed and Mitchell Aubusson stormed through the half hole, the galloped away to the line. Todd Carney then produced a terrific kick behind the line for Sam Perrett and although Jarryd Hayne got across in time to cover there wasn't enough defence covering back and Perrett passed back inside to Shaun Kenny-Dowell. And then Mitchell Pearce took on our line and passed inside to a trailing Anthony Minichiello who touched down for his first of the night. Carney kicked all three, in fact he would go on to kick eight from eight, punting them from all over the park.
Parramatta finally got themselves onto the score board through an individual effort through Jarryd Hayne. With that converted try and some generally enterprising play we looked to be winning back the ascendency when the Roosters went the length of the field, young centre Kane Linnett beating some soft Eels defence, racing down field and then finding Phil Graham inside.
An 18 point advantage going into half time would have been a tough deficit to peg back but we got back to 12 with two minutes to go when Nathan Hindmarsh produced a fend and sprint to score his own individual try and put the Eels back in at, albeit down 24 to 12.
However, it was only minutes into the second half that the Roosters were in again, and from that point on they just ran away with it. The tries were all scored at the other end to where I was sitting, so you'll excuse me for not going into detail but Sydney just outplayed the Eels all night in terms of having numbers around the ball.
Where as Feleti Mateo, who had a busy if frustrating night, was often left standing for what seemed like an eternity without any support, the Roosters always seemed to have a player looming up in support - both inside and out.
Jarryd Hayne's stellar run of form faltered somewhat. He had some great individual moments, but burdened with so much of the playmaking responsibilities he was guilty of trying to do too much and far too often the Eels attack broke down when hard on the attack.
However, there is one very strong positive to come out of this game. Parramatta now knows the kind of level they need to get to if they are to be a Premiership threat. The Roosters should be challenging for Premiership favouritism now. They have strong halves, fast outside backs and willing forwards and they're playing with confidence and flair. We won't face much sterner opposition than this, no matter how far we progress.
Replies
I've shaken it off and I'm ready for the Titans.....
I reckon our boys learnt a lot tonight............Carney made some amazingly place kicks..........they would have beaten anyone
Joel Reddy should have been awarded that try.......
Blue and Gold will come out firing next week..........it's footy.......just like life........some days you get flogged....
learn to suck it up....
my hugs to all my fellow Eels peeps......
Look at Mannah, straight and hard, makes yards....
Let's hope this game is a wake up call. They will need to play a much better brand of footy to beat the Titans and Broncos next week.
We'll have to write this game off as the Roosters being way too good in all departments on the night.
Hayne does really well when the forwards are going forward and creates space fro him to weave his magic. It reminded me of the early season games.
I hope we regroup and demonstrate our commitment in attitude for the rest of the season.
Makes it tougher now but I when I looked 5 weeks ago at our draw, I thought this game was the danger game. The problem for us now is for and against.
Anyway, next week, we're still in it people, don't give up yet.
I would have at least moved Mateo infield and got Hayne running off him once or twice as oppossed to the other way around. Hayne at least has the footwork or stregnth to brush them off and get Tahu going
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