Eels tame Tigers 30-16 to spoil Benji Marshall’s 300th party

From Henson Park to a Bankwest Stadium hat-trick inside a month — Parramatta centre Brad Takairangi has bounced back from being dropped to help power Parramatta to victory.

Blake Ferguson celebrates scoring a try for the Eels. Picture: Getty Images

He spent three games with Wentworthville Magpies just last month, contesting games at Ringrose Park, Henson Park and Auckland’s North Harbour Stadium while languishing in the Canterbury Cup.

On Sunday, in front of a bumper crowd of 24,125 at Bankwest Stadium, Eels centre Brad Takairangi sent his own message to the man who dropped him, Eels coach Brad Arthur.

Takairangi scored three tries in a powerful performance during Parramatta’s 30-18 win over the Wests Tigers.

It was only in round 15 that Arthur recalled Takairangi.

That decision was justified when last year’s wooden spooners won their fourth game from five starts to sit in sixth place.

“He (Takairangi) is a very good player but we need to be able to rely on him doing his job all the time and that we don’t have to go for the big play all the time,” Arthur said.

Brad Takairangi is congratulated by Eels teammates after scoring a try. Picture: Getty Images

“He was very good.

“We have talked about becoming more reliable as a group and having 17 players every week that we can be relied upon to do their job.

“We’re not going to win every game, I understand that, but I was pleased tonight about our mentality in that we didn’t feel like we had to pull the trigger every tackle. We were prepared to grind and work off the back of our defence.”

Clint Gutherson jumps for joy as Brad Takairangi scores a try. Picture: AAP

Both sides scored four tries but a perfect seven-from-seven goalkicking performance from Parramatta halfback Mitch Moses gave the Eels a 12-point victory.

Parramatta don’t have the roster or consistency to win this season’s title but they could give some cheek through September.

Four Eels forwards — Junior Paulo, Shaun Lane, Manu Ma’u and Nathan Brown — all ran for more than 100m. Playing direct, Parramatta won it through the middle to be two wins clear of ninth place.

TOOTHLESS TIGERS

A streaker ran on to Bankwest Stadium just before full-time, long after the Eels had laid bare the Tigers’ deficiencies.

The Tigers never gave up but errors at key moments ensured they could not sustain any long-term pressure or momentum.

“We’ve got a bit to work on, I know that,” Wests Tigers coach Michael Maguire said.

Benji Marshall and the Tigers didn’t have much to smile about. Picture: AAP

“One thing about the group, they try. At times there we just need to be more diligent around certain areas of our game.

“We had a lot of errors and didn’t apply pressure and unfortunately that puts pressure on yourself. If you keep doing that, you keep ending up where we did on the scoreboard. We need to have a look at ourselves.”

Parramatta have scored 81 points in two games against the Tigers at Bankwest this season.

BRAVO FERGO

He won it for NSW on Wednesday night. Four days later he won it for his club side.

Big Blake Ferguson made the matchwinning break that sunk Queensland late and then backed up to score a match-­sealing try yesterday for the Eels.

With the Eels ahead 16-8 but confronting a Tigers comeback, Ferguson jinked past his opposite Robert Jennings to slam the ball down and give Parramatta a 22-8 lead.

Blake Ferguson celebrates scoring a try for the Eels. Picture: Getty Images

Ferguson, as is his way, did some lovely stuff but took a few dubious options. However, when the game was there to be won, Ferguson was there.

“That’s what we got him here for, to get those big moments right and score the tries maybe someone else can’t,” Arthur said.

“He did it in Origin the other night and he backed it up today.

“His focus is around Parramatta and it’s really clear with me that he wanted to play and wanted to repay his teammates.”

DUBIOUS DECISION

Takairangi’s second try came in contentious circumstances.

Ferguson appeared to place his foot on the sideline before flinging the ball back inside, and the Tigers knocked the ball on.

The video ref ruled Ferguson’s foot didn’t touch the line. Parramatta were awarded the scrum feed and scored seconds later.

“We have had a few of those moments over the last couple of weeks,” Maguire said.

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PARRAMATTA 30 (B Takairangi 3 B Ferguson tries M Moses 7 goals) bt WESTS TIGERS 18 (D Nofoaluma 2 R Jennings C Thompson tries M Mbye goal) at Bankwest Stadium. Referee: Gerard Sutton, Adam Cassidy. Crowd: 24,125