Parramatta’s grip on wooden spoon loosens with 28-12 win over Titans in Sydney
THE Eels’ once firm grip on the wooden spoon has loosened after Parramatta beat the Gold Coast 28-12 in front of the club’s lowest home crowd in a decade.
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THE Eels’ once firm grip on the wooden spoon has loosened after Parramatta beat the Gold Coast 28-12 in front of the club’s lowest home crowd in a decade.
While Parramatta have shown some spirit to win two of their past three games – and push the high flying South Sydney last week - they did it in front of just 6158 people at ANZ Stadium.
It was the least amount of fans at a Parramatta home game since just 5,102 people turned up to watch the Eels lose to the Warriors in the final round of the 2008 season at Parramatta Stadium. Eels coach Brad Arthur said the crowd number was “disappointing”.
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“With where we’re sitting (on the ladder) that’s what happens,” Arthur said. “Hopefully our fans can see that the boys are putting in and trying to play with a bit of pride for the jersey.
“It would be nice to get a few more numbers next week.
“We seem to be on the right path with the way we’re playing. We need to make sure we don’t take any steps backwards
“We look a bit like we’re supposed to look like in the last six games. The boys know if they keep turning up with the same effort we will be able to regain some confidence.”
The win also introduced the Eels to a new-team song led which was written by debutant Jaeman Salmon.
Parramatta had a blistering first half racing to a 22-8 lead at half-time. Tim Mannah scored just his second try in 54 games to carry three players across the try line to open the scoring which Titans skipper Ryan James described the “softest try” he had been involved in.
Jarryd Hayne scored one and laid on another against his former club.
George Jennings also crossed for the Eels while the Titans points came from wingers Anthony Don and Philip Sami.
Nathan Brown was again instrumental for the Eels playing an unbroken 80 minutes, running for 208 metres and making 31 tackles. Interestingly, flyer Bevan French spent the final 10 minutes of the game on the bench –uninjured- adding to doubts about his future at the game with Arthur saying the change occurred to get Salmon on the field.
The second half was riddled with errors with three consecutive try-scoring plays – two to the Titans – denied because of forward passes.
A Mitchell Moses intercept saw Don race 90 metres to have the Titans trailing by 10 but any hope of a comeback was quashed when Corey Norman regathered his own grubber to score.
Norman’s 75th minute try came with Mannah sin-binned.
“The most consistent goal-kicker in the NRL missed three that sums up our night,” said Titans coach Garth Brennan said. “They wanted it more. Our guys (need to) realise the NRL is a tough game and we need to turn up every week.”
PARRAMATTA 28 (B French J Hayne G Jennings T Mannah C Norman tries M Moses 4 goals) bt GOLD COAST 12 (A Don 2 P Sami tries) at ANZ Stadium. Referee: Chris Sutton, Tim Roby. Crowd: 6,158