Dyldam Parramatta Eels Holden Cup

1. Michael Doolan
2. Atini Gafa
3. Tyrell Fuimaono
4. Dane Aukafolau
5. Jermaine Mati-Leifi
6. Dean Matterson
7. Troy Dargan
8. Alex Twal
9. Denzal Tonise (c)
10. Tom Amone
11. Jack Morris
12. Tom Field
13. Craig Field
Interchange:
14. Jamie Stowers
15. Jonathan Mose
16. Kurt De Luis
17. Jack Miller

 

Sorry about the delayed start everyone, got murdered by the Easter Show traffic. 17min have been played in the game and the Dogs are up 10-0.

 

Mid-sentence Tom Amone makes a solo bust up the middle and then draws a penalty from the cover defence. Alex Twal steams into the line on the second tackle from the tap restart and Denzal Tonise burrows over under the posts to get the Eels on the board. Nice timing from myself I guess!

 

Try scored by Tonise. Conversion successful by Maiti-Leifi.

Eels trail 6-10

20min gone

 

Twal takes the carry back from the kickoff reception. Maiti-Leifi comes infield for the second carry. Useful effort too. The Field twins each get one carry to bring up the fourth before Tonise jumps out of dummy half to make a half break. He tries to offload to support but it is batted backwards be a defender and although it looks like Amone got taken out off the ball trying to dive on it there ref rules play on for a Canterbury possession. Karma quickly strikes though when the home team come up with an error early in the following set. Parra ball on their own 30m line.

 

Auckafolau takes the ball up from the scrum win and earns a penalty. Parra will get the ball back 15m in the Dogs’ half. Jack Morris gets the ball from the tap. Tonise and Twal have runs after him as the Eels slowly build back to the right which opens up the blindside enough for Troy Dargan! Calls the ball down the left and throws a lovely cutout ball to Maiti-Leifi. Play slows down as he throws that ball I swear! Maiti-Leifi can’t improve the positioning so his on conversion attempt will be from out wide.

 

Try scored by Maiti-Leifi. Conversion unsuccessful by Maiti-Leifi (off the posts)

Parra lock the score up at 10-all

25min gone

 

The Eels play it by the book coming out of their red zone from the kick off. Hammering it up the ruck four times before Dean Matterson puts in a tidy kick to complete the set. An energetic kick chase gives the Eels the edge in that set.

 

Canterbury fight to just past halfway on their reply set, a gain of maybe 35m by the eye, before bombing Doolan who looks far more comfortable than Cerruto under the highball. The Eels just settle through this set and get to their kick as Dargan tries to test the Canterbury right-edge winger but the kick is a bit undercooked.

 

Much of the same from the Dogs afterwards, just focused on getting to their kick and playing the completion game.

 

Tyrell Fuimaono is the one to break the monotony when an up-tempo carry from him late in the count draws a penalty. Nice work from Fuimaono there.

 

Morris and Twal are up first from the tap retstart. Twal offloads to Craig Field and then gets up for another carry but is just short. The Eels then come down their left-edge once more and it is with an interesting formation. Doolan pushes in from fullback to first receiver and then finds his Dargan who once again throws the money ball to Maiti-Leifi. Gee he has a fantastic right-to-left pass on him. Maiti-Leifi finishes the try off nicely with an athletic leap into the corner to beat the cover defence and the Eels get the lead! Shades of first-grade there with two ostensibly halves playing down a short side.

 

Try scored by Maiti-Leifi. Conversion unsuccessful by Maiti-Leifi.

Eels lead 14-10

32min gone

 

Dang, a penalty goes the way of the Dogs early in the kickoff set when the Eels are pinged for not playing the ball correctly. A second penalty follows to heap the pressure on our young charges. The Dogs attack our right through their dual possessions but just when they look to have breached our defence the ref rules a forward pass against the last ball. Phew.

 

Morris and Auckafolau get the early work this set. Maiti-Leifi jumps out of dummy half on the third while Amone and Twal (who have played massive minutes) go next. Twal once again frees the arms for an offload which sees Dean Matterson take a tackle a few passes later. That should be our fifth tackle but for the second set in a row we are penalised for an incorrect play-the-ball. Got to fix that up ASAP.

 

Good read and tackle from Craig Field there – jamming a sweep up the middle. Twal comes in to finish the tackle off. The Dogs get to their last and bomb it cross-field to Maiti-Leifi. The winger decides to contest for the ball from the ground which proves to be a poor decision as the #4 (ringer for Idris with the looong dreadlocks) for the Dogs leaps over him, comes down and plants the ball. That ones hurts with two minutes to half time.

 

Try scored by #4 for the Dogs. Conversion unsuccessful by #7.

Canterbury lock the scores up at 14-all

38min gone

 

Solid defensive set from the Eels and now the Dogs are done for the play-the-ball infringement! Gee, this ref must have been briefed on the matter this week as I haven’t seen these blown at all in the 20s this year.

 

Parra will get 30sec to make something happen. Tom Field is used to centre the ball from the tap. Twal brings it to the left of the sticks. Dargan goes back to the right and hits Doolan who goes to Fuiamono who in turn uses Gafa. The latter looked to be taken high but no call comes from the ref and Gafa gets up with just enough time for one play. Dargan will kick back to the left for Auckafolau and Maiti-Leifi but the #4 for the Dogs takes it easily and it ushered into touch by the two Eels I just mentioned.

 

Half Time

Parramatta Eels 14 Canterbury Bulldogs 14

 

Second Half

 

The Eels will kick off in the second half.

 

C.Field and Tonise lead the charge. The Dogs work it down their left through their early tackles and come up with an error on their play-the-ball after the third tackle. First chance falls the way of the Eels!

 

Scrum is set on the right-edge of the Eels, Dargan drifts crossfield to use Morris on an unders line. Twal goes next to take the ball to the posts and then the Eels go for a big right-edge shift. Matterson I think it is throws a lovely cutout ball that may have given the Eels a 2-on-1 but Fuimaono loses it backwards and has to go back to clean it up! Chance blown almost for certain there. We build back to our left in the following tackles before Dargan tries to roll it into the in-goals but the Dogs clean it up in the field of play via #4.

 

Simple set for the Dogs in turn as they drive it upfield and get to their kick. They try to stab it in behind Gafa but he does very well to reach up and pluck it down. Fuimaono gets our set underway with a powerful charge and we roll right into their redzone on the back of it but Dean Matterson’s grubber is just too heavy. 20m restart for the Dogs.

 

We defend solidly against the seven tackle set with Maiti-Leifi easily fielding their grubber and we get back into the arm wrestle. We seem to be winning the ground war in the early in this half but we are done for trying to drag a runner into touch and lose the momentum but a quickfire error from the Dogs gives it right back to us.

 

The Eels work to their right early in the set before coming back to the left. Nothing too fancy here as we get to our kick. This one is taken in the field-of-play near the sticks. Need to be bit better in this facet of our game.

 

On our next possession there is a half break from Gafa up the middle but he is barely pulled down by his jersey. We try to give Tyrell a 1-on-1 but the Dogs slide well and bring him down before he can offload. We roll the ball along the carpet once more, this one looks better from the boot. It pops up in-goals and our runner looks to be run off the ball allowing the #4 to clean it up and offload to support.

 

We lift big time in defence though and restrict them inside their 30m mark before Doolan draws a penalty from his kick return and tempers flare up! As is typical the players fly in for the customary handbags at 1-yard and the ref comes in to separate the team after some wasted time. Captains are given cautions for their respective teams and play resumes.

 

Play resumes 15m into the Dogs’ half. Oh dear! We try to shift the ball early to our right but the cutout ball doesn’t look to have a name on it between Field and Fuimaono as they let it go. Gafa tries to clean it up on the bounce but makes a meal of it and the Dogs not only clean it up but also race downfield off of it. Doolan makes the try saver tackle with 5m to spare but the Eels are then done for failing to get back to their goal line. It doesn’t take the Dogs long to capitalise on it as they spin it to their right where their #4 brushes past some pretty soft defence. Big swing in the game on the back of the loose backline move.

 

Try scored by #4 for the Dogs. Conversion successful by the #7

Dogs lead 20-14

55min gone

 

Good set after points for the Dogs before Gafa takes a circus catch on the kick. Made that so difficult for himself but he rolls over and somehow juggles it back into his hands.

 

The Eels made a huge gain via Jack Morris who bustles past the first line and into the backfield. He wants to link up with support but has noone in reach so he pins his ears back and tries to overpower the fullback. He is pulled down with a metre to spare but on the next play we spin it left to Auckafolau who comes back infield and storms past the sliding defence!

 

Try scored by Auckafolau. Conversion unsuccessful by Dargan.

Eels trail 18-20

58min gone

 

Maiti-Leifi takes the kick and comes upfield for the return. The Eels play it safe and sound until the fourth when Dargan switches from left to right and gives Fuimaono the early ball he needs. Tyrell puts on a wicked double move on his opposite and gets into the second level before offloading to Gafa who takes the tackle. That brings up the last and Dargan then finds range on his grubber as he laces in brilliantly into the in-goals where a fantastic chase from Morris earns us a repeat set.

 

Kurt De Luis makes a strong carry to start the set and mid-count Dargan takes the ball to line and bursts through to score! Dargan putting together another blinder.

 

Try scored by Dargan. Conversion successful by Dargan.

Eels lead 24-20

62min gone

 

Kurt De Luis called on again to take the hitup and he gets hammered! Holds onto the ball though and on our second tackle we get a penalty for a strip.

 

Tyrell has a big carry and offload from the tap restart. He links up with Matterson who in turns uses T.Field. De Luis centres the ball before we execute a left-edge play. Nice little wrap move with Doolan but Auckafolau over runs his decoy line and the cutout ball intended for Maiti-Leifi bounces forwards off him for a turnover. Shame as well. That looked nifty.

 

Up-swing in momentum for our boys now as the Dogs make an error. Tyrell has another strong carry, this time from the scrum win. Tonise gets out of dummy half on the third. We spin it to Doolan wide on the left next and it looks like he has butchered a try chance by not using Maiti-Leifi two-wide. He opts to run it instead and while he does well he also cops a nasty tackle leaves him hurt.

 

Eventually he gets up alright and two tackles later we roll it in-goal where Jack Morris plays Johnny-on-the-spot! He dives, regathers and scores in the one motion. What a stellar effort from the tireless backrower.

 

Try scored by Morris. Conversion unsuccessful by Dargan.

Parra lead 28-20

68min gone

 

Massive carries from first Twal and then Fuimaono! Tyrell in particular was outstanding as he drags defenders into the secondary! The Eels show poise following that bust as they earn another line drop out. Very, very good footy from our young’uns here.

 

Alas nothing comes from it as Morris looks for some second phase ball and the Dogs scoop up the offload.

 

Oooh, the Dogs make a half break now and find support down our right. They try to grubber in behind on the fly but Doolan cleans it up and gets about 15m back on his own run. Tom Amone does damn well in return making a bust from 30m out. He has the great angle on the fullback to the try line and backs himself but he has deadset Ben Roberts himself! Lost the ball as he goes past the #1 for the Dogs. Deary me.

 

Hahaha what happens next encapsulates the Holden Cup! The Dogs bomb it on their last and Doolan takes the ball superbly and then breaks past the kick chase and into the backfield! He pins his ears back but hasn’t got the legs to take it to the house so instead of taking the tackle he kicks ahead for Dargan! What is going on upstairs there! The Dogs clean it up but four tackles later they cough it up!

 

Dargan shows the professional edge to his game as he pins the Dogs back in-goals for another drop out! They Dogs then compound the matter by kicking out on the full from the restart. Parra will take the shot at two from in-front.

 

Conversion attempt from Dargan successful.

Parra lead 30-20

76min gone

 

Perfectly executed 10m restart from the Dogs as they come down with the ball. They will need to score this set for mine. We defend resolutely from the get-go and then the Dogs kick out on the full on the last!

 

Gafa and Maiti-Leifi take the first carries. Fuimaono gets in there too to help his forwards. Twal takes the fourth carry before Tonise jumps out of dummy half with a cool head and he rolls the ball over the sideline 10m out from the Canterbury goal line.

 

The Dogs get a late penalty with 90sec on the clock. They look to second phase play to crack the Blue and Gold wall but come up with a knock-on. The Eels will prevail tonight on the back of that with 17 seconds on the clock. The scrum is set and we get the ball out the back only to drill it into touch!

 

Full Time

Parramatta Eels 30 DEF Canterbury Bulldogs 20