The Eels take another step to avoid the wooden spoon with a big win over a disappointing Titans at ANZ Stadium.
MATCH DETAILS
Tim Mannah scored the opening try thanks to some soft defence from the Titans, he was simply too strong close to the line and scored with three defenders hanging off him. The Titans got their first points 15 minutes later after a simple backline movement had Brenko Lee put Anthony Don over for his first try. A few minutes later they attacked down the other side with the same play with Phillip Sami getting the reward this time.
Things looked pretty good for the Titans at this stage, but it was only 5 minutes later that the Eels hit back with Jarryd Hayne showing some skill he never showed for the Titans and cut through the Gold Coast edge defence to score out wide. It was only two minutes later that the home side marched all the way up field and scored in the other corner for Bevan French to go over untouched. They scored another in quick succession by going through the hands again, this time Robert Jennings was on the end of it to score his 17th try of the season.
The Titans were their own worst enemy in the second half, with their only points coming against the run of play with Anthony Don reading the play and taking an intercept to run 90m to score. The only other points of the second half came with five minutes to go with Corey Norman putting in a grubber which was fumbled by the Titans which made it easy for him to regather it to ice the game for the home side.
FOUR POINTERS
EELS COME OUT FIRING
Parramatta come out fired up looking to get the two points to try to get off the bottom of the ladder. Their first half simply ambushed the Gold Coast and they went into the sheds at half-time up 22-8. Tim Mannah and Nathan Brown led from the front with Mannah scoring the first try and Brown playing 80 minutes, making 36 tackles and running for over 220m off 20 hitups. Brown has been a great signing for the Eels for the last couple seasons and leaves it all out on the field.
THE HAYNE PLANE
Jarryd Hayne has returned to form after some early season injuries since returning to his beloved Eels after an indifferent season at the Titans after his stint with the San Francisco 49ers. He scored that great solo try in the first-half and put Bevan French over two minutes later after floating over to the other side of the field. He didn’t get credited to a second try assist, but he was instrumental in putting Robert Jennings over in the left hand side just before half time.
TITANS INCONSISTENCY
Let me preface this by saying that I am a massive Titans fan. I’m a long time member, my one year old son is a member and my dog is a member. After their best game of the season last year it seemed like the future was bright, but they followed that great performance against the Warriors up with a horrible showing against the Eels. I am struggling to think of many positive things to say about their performance, it was that bad. Jai Arrow was back in form after a few weeks of reduced minutes, Anthony Don showed why he just got a contract extension with two tries and AJ Brimson showed us a glimpse into the Titans future with another solid game, he was especially strong in defence, although he did drop the ball short of the line which would have got the Titans back into the game.
Ball control was horrible, with Michael Gordon, Konrad Hurrell and Jai Arrow all being held up or dropping it over the line, Brimson dropping it short of the line and Ryan James and Phillip Sami both scoring only to be called back for the final pass being ruled forward. Michael Gordon also missed all three conversions including a relatively easy one. The Titans beat themselves and Garth Brennan will need to have a long hard think about their training and also the make up of the team with some new signings coming in next season.
HAS ANYONE SEEN ASH TAYLOR?
It wasn’t so long ago we were all talking Ash Taylor up to take the Queensland #7 jersey before it ultimately went to Daly Cherry-Evans. It seems since then either Ash has spit the dummy or has had his confidence shot because he seems to have changed the way he plays with zero try assists, zero forced drop-outs, zero line break assists and less kick metres and metres gained than his rookie halves partner in AJ Brimson. A big changed from someone who was leading the comp in try assists and forced dropouts not so long ago. Unsure what the solution is, but something needs to change for Taylor to get back to the player we know he can be.
THE RESULT
EELS 28
Tries:ย Tim Mannah 6′, Jarryd Hayne 27′, Bevan French 29′, George Jennings 35′, Corey Norman 74′
Goals: Mitch Moses 4/5
TITANS 12
Tries:ย Anthony Don 18’/53′, Phillip Sami 22′
Goals:ย Michael Gordon 0/3
SQUADS
EELS
1. Clint Gutherson
2. Bevan French
3. Michael Jennings
4. Jarryd Hayne
5. Robert Jennings
6. Corey Norman
7. Mitch Moses
8. Siosaia Vave
9. Reed Mahoney
10. Tim Mannah
11. Marata Niukore
12. Tepai Moeroa
13. Nathan Brown
14. Jaemon Salmon
15. Kane Evans
16. Peni Terepo
17. Brad Takairangi
TITANS
1. Michael Gordon
2. Anthony Don
3. Konrad Hurrell
4. Brenko Lee
5. Phillip Sami
6. AJ Brimson
7. Ash Taylor
8. Jarrod Wallace
9. Nathan Peats
10. Ryan James
11. Kevin Proctor
17. Will Matthews
13. Jai Arrow
14. Mitch Rein
15. Moeaki Foutaika
16. Jack Stockwell
20. Jai Whitbred
