Dyldam Parramatta Eels NYC vs Penrith Panthers, 1.45pm, Sunday July 17 at Pepper Stadium

1. Mason Cerruto

2. TBA (Gammidge playing for Wentworthville)

3. Tuimavave Afualo

4. Dane Aukafolau

5. Jermaine Mati-Leifi

6. Michael Doolan

7. Troy Dargan

8. Jamie Stowers

9. Matt Price

10. Tom Amone

11. Jack Morris

12. Tyrell Fuimaono

13. Denzal Tonise (c)

Interchange:

14. Dean Matterson

15. Kurt De Luis

16. Tom Field

17. Steve Dresler 

Join Forty20 and The Cumberland Throw live from Pepper Stadium at 1:45PM for all of the action from the blockbuster first vs second Holden Cup match.

It looks like Atini Gafa comes into the team for James Gammidge.

The Panthers cough up the ball in the first set of the game, giving the Eels a prime chance to snare first points but the Eels in turn lose the ball late in their set when Mason Cerruto spills the ball. Solid set by the Panthers next up as the ruck the ball over half way and send up a bomb. Cerruto hesitates and lets the ball bounce which forces Gafa to clean it up under duress.

A solid carry from Afualo gets our set underway but three tackles later we make it two incomplete sets from two possessions as Amone drops the ball. The Panthers looked to have split us down our left edge early in the set but are pinged for a double movement. Phew.

Jack Morris takes the first settler. Troy Dargan nearly bursts through after electing to run – only to be pulled down by an ankle tap. Two tackles later it is Tui Afualo that screams into the backfield, stepping past the fullback and only brought down by some desperate cover defence. Sloppy work on the last means that it takes two passes to get to Dargan and he rolls it in behind under pressure where it is easily cleaned up.

The Eels put together a solid defensive effort in the following set and end up winning the territorial arm wrestle as they begin to set up camp in the Penrith red zone. The Panthers are pinged for an offside player when a kick from Dargan catches a delection. Some second phase play from Fuimaono leads to Afualo taking another crash ball down the right. The Eels then spin it back to their left where it looks like Maiti-Leifi crosses over the corner but the last pass is ruled forwards.

Another decent defensive effort from the Eels as the Panthers end up kicking from halfway. Looked to be something of a block from the Eels but the referee is happy with it. Scrappy start to the set as a ball is lost backwards and the towering bomb from Doolan on the last is far too much for the Penrith custodian as he spills it without a chaser in sight.

Big chance for Parra here.

And there you go! Fluid backline move as Dargan wheels out the back to link up with Cerruto who jinks off his right foot to beat his man and then races through to score! That was a nice try.

Try scored by Mason Cerruto. Conversion successful by Doolan.

Eels lead 6-0

13min gone.

Amone first up from the kickoff. Tonise follows with a good run. The Eels then play left it left for a couple of tackles before coming back right to Fuimaono who takes the tackle to bring up the last. They look to bomb the Panthers once again but the home team do better this time around as the reel it in.

The Panthers don’t do anything fancy in this set as they just roll it up the middle for middling metres and kick in behind early. Cerruto swoops back to clean it up and the Eels look to grind it up the middle too but lose the ball mid-count as Stowers tries to force an offload.

Huh, bizarre call there. Gafa makes an intercept and secures the ball after batting it up but the referee rules a knock on. That is a baffling one as the defender didn’t get to him before the ball was pulled in.

A penalty follows as the Eels slow the ruck down on their goal line and hte Panthers take the quick tap. Bit of karma follows as Penrith drops the ball cold.

Jack Morris makes a good run down the left. Maiti-Leifi follows and on the third Fuimaono comes in field for a run and draws a penalty.

Barnstorming run from Afualo now as he gets turned inside by Dargan. Wasted tackle up next though as Price can’t find either Dargan or Doolan. We go left after that and Dane Auckafolua nearly forces his way over but is pulled down barely a metre short and on the last, Dargan looks to roll it in. Fair kick but the chase wasn’t on point and Penrith get back into the field of play and then pick up a penalty to get them out of trouble.

Good set from Penrith as they get into position for an attacking kick to our right edge. The bomb goes up and Gafa competes for it with two Penrith chasers but no one gets it and the Eels clean it up only for Afualo to lose the ball on the first tackle. That one hurts. It hurts even more when Penrith make us pay for the error with a try as our right edge is caught one defender short via a long pass. Our cover defenders get across in time to make an attempt but the runner steps inside Doolan and he can’t get enough to him to stop him reaching out and scoring.

Try scored by Penrith #19. Conversion unsuccessful.

Penrith trail 4-6

25min gone.

Very good set after point for Penrith as the Eels lose track of their line speed this set. After rucking the ball up a good 60m they bomb Cerruto on the last. Mason brings the ball in nicely but it trapped on his goal line and the Eels have a tough time getting out of their red zone before good runs by Afualo and De Luis. The Eels rattle off a decent kick on the last considering their position via Dargan and look to regroup in defence.

Bit of a nothing set from the Panthers now as they just go through the motions and get caught going too lateral too quickly. Cerruto defuses their bomb on the last and then has a nice carry a few tackles into the set. The Eels ruck it up the halfway before looking to run it on the last as Dargan spins it out to Auckafolau. Dane nearly splits the two widest edge defenders but it pulled down and looks to offload as a result but the Panthers dive on the loose ball.

Simple set for Penrith as the work it down our left edge and then bomb Cerruto yet again. Mason brings it in and then does a tremendous job to somehow overpower three defenders and stay in the field of play! The Eels have to keep working it up the middle as they look to work the ball out of their half but Penrith are getting on top of them here.

Sure enough the swing in the momentum of the game is consolidated on the scoreboard when the Panthers split us open down our left. Dargan the culprit here as he falls off a tackle which sees the Panthers get into our backfield where a supporting run from their right edge backrower nets him a try. Soft stuff there.

Try scored by Penrith #11. Conversion successful.

Penrith lead 10-6

32min gone.

Second phase play kills us from the kickoff set as the Panthers string together three of four offloads down our left edge from midfield and end up racing down our sideline to score. First up contact simply not good enough there and now Penrith have the two score lead.

Try scored by Penrith. Conversion unsuccessful.

Penrith lead 14-6

35min gone.

Phew. After keeping Penrith to the halfway line for their kick in what would have been our best defensive set in some time, the Eels let the ball bounce on the last and the  Panthers nearly capitalise on it by going direly close to scoring in our left corner. We picked up a penalty for an offside player by the looks of it so a huge bullet dodged there.

The Eels nearly score in return as they get the ball back from a shallow bomb from Doolan but Fuimaono is called offside in a late call as he comes down with the ball and looked to link up with Gafa on the 2-on-1.

The referee misses a monstrous forward pass from the Panthers but they lose the ball one pass later in a fitting twist. The scrum is packed with 30sec on the clock.

Good carry from Auckafolau from the scrum win but it will come to naught as on the next tackle the siren rings out to bring an end to the first half proceedings.

Second Half

Urgh, technical difficulties for me as the net eats the first batch of second half updates. Short of it all was that Mason Cerruto scores his second try from a scrum set piece. Nice effort from the fullback to force his way over the line.

Try scored by Cerruto. Conversion successful by Doolan.

Parra trail 12-14

Oh my goodness. What on Earth was he thinking? Following a nice grubber from Fuimaono the Panthers are forced to clean the ball up in goals and run sideways trying to get out. They go two passes wide with the second catching a hand by the Eels. Pure madness and they come away with a 20m restart.

With the benefit of the extra tackle, Penrith march the ball downfield and into our redzone but the defensive effort cuts the mustard this time around as they hold Penrith out.

Awful set in reply though as the pass on the fourth tackle loses a good 20m. Ooph that is bad. Fortune then shines on the Eels as a poor fifth tackle kick from Dargan catches a friendly deflection on Parra’s 40m line. No six again there but the Eels scoop it up and Jack Morris heads over halfway where the offload from him catches a Penrith hand for the clean tackle reset. The Eels truck the ball up against the retreating defensive line and Tyrell Fuimaono comes infield to make a carry that goes desperately close to breaching the goal line only for him to lose the ball in contact.

Solid set from Penrith as they ruck it out and find the ground in Parra’s redzone. Cerruto swings across to pick the pill up and does well to get 10m out. Fuimaono makes a half break but doesn’t see Afualo swing inside otherwise there was a linebreak there to be had. Dargan gets the ball on the last, two passes wide, and puts up a nice bomb that is accompanied by a strong kick chase that pins the Panthers inside their 20m mark. More fortune for the Eels following the hard work of the kick chase as the Panthers fail to complete the following set.

Good runs from Auckafolau and Morris to start the set. De Luis centres the ball and the Eels go right via Doolan who turns Afualo inside. They suck the Penrith defenders out wide to their left edge and then switch play back to the other side as Dargan links up with Cerruto on a sweeping play. Cerruto double pumps to his outside men and then splits the defenders to nab his hat trick! Some good footy from our young lads here!

Try scored by Cerruto. Conversion unsuccessful by Doolan.

Parra lead 16-14

58min gone.

Good run from Tom Fields to start the set. He has as second carry later in the set that is of equal quality. We work it down our right edge via Afualo to bring up the last and then send up a torrid bomb that is taken extremely well over the back shoulder.

Morris puts on a nice shot early in the set and on the next tackle Kurt De Luis does a nice job of killing an offload. Penrith run the ball on the last and break through our right edge but some hustle from Tom Field sees him take an intercept as Penrith work the ball back infield. Big play there.

Parra rally for a decent set and rake the ball downfield but the kick painfully trickles into touch as it pulls up 1m dead. That is rough.

The mini-swing in momentum continues as the Panthers pick up a penalty short of halfway and will go on the attack.

Dane Auckafolau makes a good jam and tackle and on the next tackle it looks like the Panthers have crossed but a desperate last ditch tackle from Jack Morris has forced the ball loose! HUGE PLAY.

Mason Cerruto races up to make the 20m tap restart and gets a good 20m to his name but a few tackles later the Eels shoot themselves in the foot when they lose the ball on halfway. It comes back to hurt us badly when a lazy effort from Fuimano is defence paves the way for the Panthers to crack our front line as their halfbreak races through. Denzal Tonise makes a huge effort in cover defence to run him down but he has support from his other half and the home team regains the lead as they cross under the posts.

Try scored by Penrith #6. Conversion successful.

Penrith lead 20-16

65min gone.

Another good set by Penrith after points. Dummy half running the key for them here. Their reckless second phase play finally catches up with them though as they push one too many offloads and drop the ball 30m out from Parra’s goal line.

Tui Afualo and Tyrell Fuimaono gets Parra moving with early carries. Dane Acukafolau does the same when he is turned inside past halfway. Dargan tries to earn a repeat set when he kicks early on the fourth tackle with Maiti-Leifi chasing but the kick rolls dead again by the barest of margins.

Penrith rumble downfield and end up trapping us ingoals as Cerruto loses the ball backwards and has to ground it. He wasn’t getting out of there even if he took the ball cleanly though. Big defensive set here for Parra.

And alas, they can’t repel the Panthers. Afualo shot up looking to jam the play down our right edge but the Panthers read the play and threw the cutout to create a 2-on-1 which the Panthers cash in on with ease. The Eels are up against it now.

Try scored by Penrith. Conversion unsuccessful.

Penrith lead 24-16

72min gone.

Short kickoff attempted by Parra but the Panthers get possession after losing it backwards. They get a bit fancy in the backend of this set and lose the ball trying to be cute kicking it in behind.

Fuimaono provides the Eels with a strong carry before we go left to Auckafolau who puts Maiti-Leifi into space. Jermaine backs himself as he kicks ahead but the ball beats him into touch and with that the Eels are essentially left with a must-score scenario in their next two possessions.

Rough call against the Eels now as well as the ref pings us for a knock on that quite clearly went backwards.

The Panthers lose the ball in reply and Jack Morris cleans it up. Must score this set. We get off to a slow start due to a sloppy play the ball. Our halves direct play down our right edge before coming back to the left to run it on the last but there is a brilliant defensive effort by a lone Panther to race up and tackle Dargan. That was impressive stuff.

Penrith looked to have scored one last try to rub salt into the wound but again last ditch defence forces an error over the line. 20m restart for the Eels. Cerruto races up and takes the tap. We slug it out up the middle before going to Afualo on the right. Doolan links up with Dargan who uses Morris on a crash ball but the ball squirrels out. Penrith cough the ball back up but the clock will beat the Eels here with just 44sec left when the referee ices time for the set scrum.

Parra throw the ball around trying to find a gap but Penrith good job to push up and kill the ball and that will do us today. Penrith proving to be just too strong for a lion-hearted Parra outfit. Hurts to lose but that was a pretty solid effort.

Full Time

Penrith Panthers 24 DEF Parramatta Eels 16