Courtesy of the club...
New recruit Shane Shackleton made a strong debut for the Pirtek Parramatta Eels, despite falling to the St George Illawarra Dragons 34-20 in their first trial match of the season, at Perth’s ME Bank Stadium.
The Eels went into halftime trailing the Dragons but pulled them back to just two points in the second half, before a couple of late tries gave St George Illawarra a comfortable win.
Parramatta had chances on their own tryline before the Dragons scored first against the run of play. A break downfield by the Dragons’ halfback Ben Hornby left the Eels’ left-side defence bare, and a well-timed kick by Nathan Fien to Jason Nightingale on the next play handed Nick Emmett the chance to ground the rolling ball over the tryline. Hornby missed the conversion.
In the second quarter the Dragons used a slick passing game to pierce through the middle of the Eels’ defence with Luke Priddis sending Ricky Thorby over near the posts, Bronx Goodwin converted. A few minutes later Jason Nightingale pushed off three defenders to score, and brought the ball around near the posts for a simple conversion by Goodwin a 16-0 lead for the Dragons.
However, Parramatta were able to hit back just before halftime with a try to Jeff Robson. Kris Keating put a grubber into the in-goal and as players scrambled for the ball, Robson came through and grounded it just before the dead ball line.
A halftime speech by Parramatta Eels celebrity fan, boxer Danny Green, who ran the water for the team during the game, pushed the Eels to a better second half, making a break in the first minutes.
A change of personnel saw Feleti Mateo break through the Dragons’ line with his first touch of the ball, sending a pass to Kris Keating, who was brought down a metre from the line. Two minutes later a long pass from Keating caught the Dragons’ defence short and Etu Uaisele scored in the corner.
The Dragons sent the kick-off out on the full, giving the Eels more possession close to the line and the Eels almost scored again through Tim Mortimer before solid defence sent him over the sideline.
Poor defence on the Eels’ line let Jake Marketo in for a try, and the conversion by Goodwin pushed the Dragons’ lead back out to 14 points. It looked as though Krisnan Inu made the same mistake as the Dragons from the kick-off but the ball bounced just inside the dead ball line and gave the Eels another chance in opposition territory through a drop-out.
Five minutes later Kris Keating crossed for Parramatta, slipping straight between the Dragons’ defence after some quick passing with Feleti Mateo. Tom Humble converted to bring the score back to 22-14.
In the final quarter Robson scooted out of dummy half to score, and the conversion by Daniel Mortimer brought the gap to just two points.
However late tries to Nathan Fien and Michael Lett pushed the final score out to 34-20.
PARRAMATTA EELS 20 (Jeff Robson 2, Etu Uaisele, Kris Keating tries; Daniel Mortimer, Tom Humble goals) were defeated by ST GOERGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS 34 (Nick Emmett, Ricky Thorby, Jason Nightingale, Jake Marketo, Nathan Fien, Michael Lett tries; Bronx Goodwin 5 goals) Crowd: 9,450.
Replies
Sounds like it was a solid hit out for a pretty young an inexperienced team, we didn't get completely dominated, and there is no word of any injuries which of course is the most important outcome from the game.
Anyone heading to cua on Saturday?
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