NRL 2021: Parramatta Eels win 26-8 over Gold Coast Titans | Match Report
Despite missing out on Origin Game III due to suspension David Fifita was axed, as the Titans blew a golden opportunity to beat an understrength Eels side.
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David Fifita was hooked as the Gold Coast Titans blew a golden opportunity to beat an understrength Parramatta and register their first win against a top eight team this year.
Fifita was dragged after just 30 underwhelming minutes at Cbus Super Stadium on Friday night as the Eels blew the Titans away in 26-8 demolition.
After only managing three runs for 18m and defending poorly, Fifita spent the next 23 minutes stretching on the sideline and was only brought back at 26-0 after halfback Jamal Fogarty (hand) left the field midway through the second half.
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With the Eels missing NSW Origin duo Mitchell Moses and Junior Paulo and forced to relocate to Queensland midweek, this was a prime chance for the Titans to record their first top eight scalp of the season.
Instead, they fell to their fifth loss in six games and are facing a nervous final seven weeks of the regular season as the pressure mounts on coach Justin Holbrook to deliver a play-offs berth.
FIFITA FLOPS
As the Gold Coast’s highest-paid player on $1.1 million this season, it seems ridiculous for Fifita to have such little input that he is benched for Beau Fermor with the Titans’ season on the line.
Fifita missed Origin III on Wednesday night through suspension and wasn’t backing up like teammates AJ Brimson, Tino Fa’asuamaleaui and Moeaki Fotuaika, who all had much higher involvements.
Winger Phil Sami (ankle) went down three minutes later but Fifita was still not reintroduced to the game, with Fa’asuamaleaui instead taking his spot on the left edge.
Fifita scored with his sixth touch in the 67th minute but the game was already gone.
“He’s okay,” Holbrook said.
“We’re not stringing a lot of games together lately. It was always going to be the plan to give him a rest.
“I don’t think he was to blame out there. It’s very hard when you don’t touch it for a long period. You’ve got to give your whole team a chance.
“We weren’t good enough.”
TITANS MELT AGAIN
The Titans are still in the mix to play finals this season but they have gained a reputation for being flat-track bullies.
All six of their wins this year have come against teams currently in the NRL’s bottom eight.
This game was a prime opportunity for the Titans to earn some respect by beating a genuine finals team that was missing its two best players.
Instead, the Titans stunk it up. They looked slow as Parramatta made them pay in a three-try five-minute blitz while co-captain Kevin Proctor sat in the sin bin. It was 20-nil after 28 minutes and they failed to recover.
Fortunately for the Titans they have a soft draw this year and still have a chance of playing finals for the first time since 2016 because of the poor quality of the 2021 NRL premiership.
They have jagged a bonus “home” game with next Sunday’s match against the Dragons to be played at Cbus after losing their Canberra home fixture to Sydney earlier this year.
“It’s about us looking at ourselves and getting better,” Holbrook said.
“We’ve got seven games. We’ve got to get back to working hard.
“We trained hard for a few weeks and got comfortable. It was a good lesson for us.
“We want to play finals but we know we’ve got to play better than we did tonight.
“I’m confident, we’ve got it in us. We’ve got to get it right from now on.”
TOBY TIME FOR TITANS
Holbrook may look to rookie halfback Toby Sexton to debut against the Dragons.
Sexton has been on fire for Tweed Heads in the Intrust Super Cup and Fogarty’s injury may open the door for the Titans to try something different at their scrumbase.
The Titans had no injuries going into the Eels game but will now be sweating on Sami and Proctor, who is facing suspension for an ugly lifting tackle with teammate Patrick Herbert on Eels forward Isaiah Papali’i.
NO MOSES NO WORRIES
—Joel Gould
The brave and at times electric Eels overcame the absence of two Origin stars and the ugliest of ugly tackles on Isaiah Papali’i to overpower the Gold Coast Titans and consolidate their top four position.
The Eels scored 14 points in the first half while Titans captain Kevin Proctor was in the sin bin for a lifting tackle, in cahoots with Patrick Herbert, that dropped Papali’i right on the top of his head.
It was fortunate that the Eels back-rower did not sustain any serious damage and was able to continue the game.
Parramatta back-rower Ryan Matterson had a 10 out of 10 performance in the 26-8 win that took the Eels momentarily into third position.
Before the game coach Brad Arthur told Fox League the upcoming matches under hardship away from home were basically a new competition and had the capacity “make or break” his side.
This one win won’t make their season but it revealed a gritty and ruthless edge to the Eels that they will need to challenge for the title.
With NSW Origin representatives Mitchell Moses and Junior Paulo both rested it was up to the other big guns to lift an extra cog and they all did. Matterson, Dylan Brown, Reed Mahoney, Reagan Campbell-Gillard, Nathan Brown and Clint Gutherson were all enormous in the opening stanza.
The Eels lost Jakob Arthur to an HIA after three minutes and it was then that Dylan Brown stood up. From the half-way line he snaffled a Matterson offload and put the foot down to burn AJ Brimson with sheer speed for an electric Eels try.
With Proctor in the sin-bin the Eels made them pay. Mahoney looked right and passed left from dummy-half to send Shaun Lane crashing over.
Mahoney started the next try from dummy-half and finished it. It was a cracker. Nathan Brown, Ryan Matterson and Clint Gutherson all supported the ball carrier before Mahoney finished a classic rugby league try.
A magical and deceptive Gutherson kick provided for Haze Dunster to scoop it up on the fly and score in the corner and the Eels led 20-0 after just 27 minutes.
Matterson scored straight after half-time to effectively put an end to the contest despite the Titans showing some fight in the second half.
“It has been a tough week and everyone’s lives have been turned upside down and we made a real point of just getting on with the job,” a proud Arthur said after the win.
“’We are so grateful that we can continue to play and we needed to show that in the first half. We started off with great intent and purpose and focus. We dropped off a bit in the second half but Gutho hadn’t trained with us all week, and to play without Junior and Mitchell takes a squad. That is what we were focusing on.
“We talked about how we have 42 people in our environment at the moment and we have all got to contribute. This this can make us tighter and this can make is stronger.”
MAGIC MATTERSON
The all-round game of Matterson was of the highest class and it is hard to think of the 26-year-old having a better game.
By halftime he had two try assists, four offloads and had made 17 tackles, including a try saver on a charging Tino Fa’asuamaleaui centimetres from the line.
With offload king Paulo missing it was on Matterson to make an extra contribution in that department and he delivered when it counted.
In the process he gave his opposite number David Fifita a complete bath. Fifita was hooked in the first half by coach Justin Holbrook and was hardly sighted.
Arthur said he challenged Nathan Brown and Matterson to step up and they delivered.
“Matto and Browny, I challenged them,” Arthur said.
“ They needed to be the senior leaders without the other [Origin players] here the last two weeks and they have been unreal during the week. Because they prepared well and were committed I thought they were very good for us
“They had their moments but I think it was all about their attitude to step up, be the leaders and take control.”
REED RETURNS
Mahoney had spent a month on the sidelines with a shoulder injury but returned to provide a timely reminder of his class and energy.
He often deceived the Titans by looking one way and passing the other and the Eels made plenty of inroads on the back of it.
The fixture was always going to be a danger game for the Eels if the Titans got a roll-on but Mahoney played a big part in snuffing that out with his defensive steel.
TITANS IN TROUBLE
Proctor will have a nervous wait for the charge sheet to come out on Saturday and so will Herbert.
The Titans captain was the instigator of the dangerous tackle on Papali’i before Herbert joined in to tip Papali’i over.
Fox League’s Greg Alexander noted that the lifting style of tackle was “creeping back into the game” and needed to be cracked down on.
It was a horror night all around for the Titans with Phil Sami (leg) and Jamal Fogarty (hand) both leaving the field with injuries.
Coach Justin Holbrook didn’t believe Proctor should have been sin-binned.
“We’re playing a game of variables,” Holbrook said.
“No-one wants to see it but they can get out of hand without anyone trying to do anything dangerous. Those things happen in our game unfortunately.”
Originally published as NRL 2021: Parramatta Eels win 26-8 over Gold Coast Titans | Match Report
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