It has been some time between live blogs! I apologise for the dereliction of duty but work and life have conspired to eat up a great deal of my free time. In any event I am back for the final round of regulation season footy in the NYC and although our Holden Cup squad have already punched their ticket to the post-season, there is the slight matter of their final ladder position. We currently sit in 7th place coming into Round 26 but can finish as high as 4th if we are able to pile on a solid 40-odd points in differential. 5th place is the more realistic prize should we emerge victorious tonight and in doing so we will leap frog the Dragons.
Final Team List
Dyldam Parramatta Eels Holden Cup side v St. George Illawarra Dragons, Pirtek Stadium, Monday 29 August
1. Mason Cerruto
2. James Gammidge
3. Tuimavave Afualo
4. Atini Gafa
5. Jermaine Mati-Leifi
6. Michael Doolan
7. Troy Dargan
8. Kurt De Luis
9. Denzal Tonise (c)
10. Jamie Stowers
11. Jack Morris
12. Tyrell Fuimaono
13. Tom Amone
14. Dean Matterson
15. Tui Oloapu
16. Tom Field
17. Jye Challenor
First Half
The Eels receive the ball in the first half and begin in an industrious fashion as they roll the ball over halfway. An error on the fourth tackle quickly grinds their momentum to a halt though and the Dragons will get the first real attacking set of the game.
St George spin the ball to their left from the scrum win and look to have created an overlap but their final pass is looped up and it allows James Gammidge to jam in and knock the runner over which in turn allows defenders to push over in support. The Dragons stall a bit from there as they work the ball into the red zone and they put up a bomb that Mason Cerruto defuses quite well.
Parramatta work the ball down their favoured left edge and find a crack in the defence of the Dragons as Jermaine Maiti-Leifi busts into the backfield and races past halfway before he is pulled down. Dargan has a world of time for his kick on the last but the offensive line is staggered deep and his bomb gets a really poor kick chase.
An error from the Dragons gives the Eels a chance from halfway to work towards an attacking kick but after completing a simple set, Dargan chooses to ice the play by finding touch 10m out.
The Dragons put together a solid set in reply as they roll the ball downfield. Parra didn’t defend poorly by any means but the visitors worked the ball around the ruck nicely. We catch a bit of a break on the last tackle when it seems that Maiti-Leifi dropped a bomb forwards but the call comes out way for a turnover. In typical NYC fashion we waste little time turning it back over though and the Dragons quickly follow fashion. Some things change but the Holden Cup never does!
As both teams continue to trade possessions, largely via incomplete sets, the Dragons get the first real crack at troubling the scorer when Gammidge overjumps a bomb. The ball sails over his head and bounces up for the St George winger with the tryline just 4m away. Fortunately he slips over and knocks on!
Troy Dargan supplies the Eels with a lovely riposte to the Dragon’s raid on the following set when he sets Atini Gafa free down the left-edge. Gafa steps back in field and finds Denzal Tonise who is then pulled down. Doolan completes the set with a disappointing grubber kick that is quickly cleaned up in the field of play and Tui Afualo makes a nice one-on-one tackle on the St George custodian.
The first penalty of the day goes the way of the Dragons as the Eels look to be pinged for racing up too early. The Dragons find touch near halfway and begin their assault by venturing down our right-edge. We hold out through the first few tackles and force the Dragons down the opposite side of the field where Maiti-Leifi is caught in-field by a long cutout ball. The Eels really should have been able to herd the winger in from the interior but he somehow carries two defenders down the sideline to score. Weak stuff.
Try scored by the Dragons. Conversion successful.
Dragons lead 6-0
16min gone.
Another penalty for the Dragons. This one is painful as it comes late in the count. Jack Morris the culprit I believe as he is done for slowing the ruck down.
All too easy from the restart as the Dragons work the ball down their left and their fullback Matt Dufty spots a gap between Afualo and Fuimaono and slices through. He has too much speed for Cerruto from 20m out and scores 8m in from touch. Dire start from the Eels here.
Try scored by the Dragons. Conversion unsuccessful.
Dragons lead 10-0
19min gone.
Our ruck defence barely holds together in this set but we somehow keep the Dragons to a clearing kick. Mason Cerruto tidies up the midfield bomb quite nicely given the pressure he was under. Parra work the ball down their right but the Dragons repel them with ease and Dargan is put under immense pressure by a marker on the last. He has to break to his left and hurry off a bomb that goes no where. This is getting ugly.
Scratch that, this is now ugly as the Eels have a decidedly ignominious try scored on them. The Dragons punch in a kick that finds on in-goals and Cerruto scoots back to clean it up. Once again the Dragons have a terrific kick chase presence and of all the things to happen, Cerruto slips over and loses the ball in-goals. The Dragons are more than happy to pounce on the loose ball and score on of the easiest tries you will see.
Try scored by the Dragons. Conversion successful.
Dragons lead 16-0
25min gone.
We are getting crucified in the ruck here. Or rather we are crucifying ourselves in an attempt to slow the Dragons down. Another penalty comes to the Dragons and they surge towards our red zone. We are slipping off tackles everywhere but somehow manage to hold them out as the run it on the last and are held up in-goals.
It comes as little surprise that metres are tough to come by in this set given the amount of defence (well attempted defence) the boys have had to do and the Dragons swallow them up. Doolan tries to kick early but he only manages to find Dufty and the pressure is right back on.
No try in this set but the Dragons do earn a line drop out via a really well weighted grubber down our left edge. Cerruto has no choice but to kick it dead.
Too late to shut the gate now as Dufty strolls over for another try. Looked like an obstruction in the sweeping movement but Tui Afualo misses his one-on-one with Dufty badly and it allows the fullback to skip through the line and score next to the posts.
Try scored by the Dragons. Conversion successful.
Dragons lead 22-0
31min gone
The Eels finally catch a break as the Dragons make an unforced error on their second tackle. The Eels take it down their left as Dargan cuts out to Cerruto. Cerruto offloads to support in Doolan but he is quickly wrapped up. The home team comes back to the posts where Tonise hits Jamie Stowers with a short ball to the right of the posts. Stowers powers through a number of defenders and although he is held out on the first attempt he manages to force his way over on the second time around. A small sign of life I suppose.
Try scored by Stowers. Conversion successful by Doolan.
Parra trail 6-22
34min gone.
Good run from Fuimaono there and he earns the Eels their first penalty of the game. Afualo takes the tap restart and is followed by Fuimaono. Afualo gets his second carry of the set on the next tackle and then Amone goes very close down the right edge short side. Dargan wants the ball down the left on the fourth and he sees the defensive line racing up. He looks to dab it in behind for Maiti-Leifi but miscues the kick allowing the Dragons to make a play at the ball and there is a slice of luck as the St George flanker loses the ball as he hits the deck.
Annnnndddd the Eels turn it over on the first tackle as Cerruto throws a forward pass to Afualo from the scrum win. You can not make this up.
The Dragons lose the ball in turn as they make a half break near the 50m mark.
We drive the ball into the redzone and set up shop for a raid down the right-edge. Dargan plays the ball out to Doolan who rifles a pass off to Gammidge who goes over untouched! No! It comes back for a forward pass. Ooooh, that was a tough call but probably within a reasonable margin of error for the touchy.
Both teams trade sets to bring an end to the half as Dufty runs a kick return into touch.
Half Time
St George Illawarra Dragons 22 lead the Parramatta Eels 6
Second Half
There is a much more subdued exchange of play to start the second half as both teams trade sets before the Eels pick up a penalty to go on the attack. Cerruto is crunched down our left edge as he reels in a hospital pass. We reset for a kick down our right on the last. Doolan is the option and he tries to roll it in behind but it is well read and the even worse, the Dragons brush past Doolan to race downfield. A gallant chase from Jack Morris and one more limits the damage to about 55m and the Eels then somehow rally on their goal line to force an error down their left-edge. The Dragons really should have scored there.
Afualo and Fuimaono provide some strong go forward early in this set. We spin it to our left where Gafa offloads to Maiti-Leifi who is then tackled to bring up the last and from there sheer chaos descends. The dummy half pass misses everyone and Cerruto has to run back 20m to clean it up. He is under plenty of pressure and tries to offload to Doolan but only manages to lose another 5m which in turn sees Doolan throw a rubbish pass to Gammidge that nearly rolls into touch before the winger can bring it in and get away a surprisingly decent kick. That was pure dross.
The Dragons proceed to march down field and go dangerously close to scoring down our right edge before they come unstuck by another error.
Parra manage to re-establish themselves in the grind as they find a little bit of consistency in defence around the ruck. Dufty threatens to break open for a big gain on a kick return after fielding a monstrous bomb but Dargan makes a good cover tackle. The Eels continue to work their way back into the game as Afualo unloads a bone rattling tackle to bring up the last tackle. Maiti-Leifi follows that effort up with a terrific bomb defusal and goes a bit better as he hits the deck and pinches a good 7m from a set defensive line.
Here is a chance for the home team as the Dragons make a mistake in the play-the-ball just inside their half.
The Eels begin their set by smashing it up the middle but they come completely unstuck on the third tackle where a horrific forward pass is thrown by Dean Matterson. Not doing ourselves any favours in the least here.
We repel the Dragons once more as Gammidge takes a great take to clean up a bomb in our red zone. Cerruto makes a nice scoot to get us on a small roll forwards. We get our kick and look to drive it flat and into touch but we almost overcook as it skims one bounce into touch.
St George Illawarra return the favour with an awful forward pass of their own and the official pick up on it after a small delay.
Holy Dooley. Is this a turning point? Matt Dufty comes up with his first error of the game when he grasses a Dargan bomb in his redzone. He compounds the matter when he mouths off at the referee to turn the scrum into a penalty and goes a step further when he continues to rail on to the ref and is marched for 10min! Massive brainsnap.
The Eels work to their right through the first few tackles of the set before swinging back to our left. Dargan finds Doolan who hits Cerruto with the overlap. Mason needs a second take at the footy but does pull it in before passing to Maiti-Leifi who dots over in the corner.
Try scored by Maiti-Leifi. Conversion unsuccessful by Doolan.
Eels trail 10-22
63min gone.
Good carry by De Luis from the kickoff. Field gets the second run before there is an early shift to Afualo down the right and he drives forwards for a 20m gain. WE come back to our left for the kick on the last but Dargan wants to run it. He hits Gafa with the flat ball but he can’t get his mitts on it cleanly and loses the pill as he is tackled.
Solid defensive set from the Eels here as they pin the Dragons inside their 40m mark. Cerruto does well to reel in a driving clearance kick and the Eels will get reasonable field position. Tom Field crashes over the halfway before there is a fantastic run down our right edge. That might have been Tui Oloapu there.
It sets Dargan up for a good fifth tackle kick as he drives the ball along the ground. It takes a wicked upwards bounce and finds the in-goals where Gafa does well to trap the runner. It all comes to zilch when we make another unforced error midway through the following set. Distinct lack of focus for our boys today.
After a strong set the puts them in position for an attacking bomb the Dragons have to settle for a turnover from the kick as the Eels clean the kick up nicely. Tui Afualo jumps out of dummy half to make a powerful carry down the right edge and we complete our set in the mid-field where Doolan puts up a bomb. The Dragons defuse it easily and continue to make light work of the 1-man handicap they are currently copping.
Another set, another error for the Eels. This is a particularly crucial mistake as it comes in our red zone. Lost the pill in the play-the-ball.
Ooof. The Dragons nearly score from the scrum win as their #6 cuts through some buttery soft defence down our left-edge. He is eventually dragged down a metre short and the Dragons get to work assailing our other edge. It doesn’t take them long to breach our 13-man defensive line, much to my chagrin, as a series of barge over attempts in the corner eventually meet success. That really shouldn’t happen.
Try scored by the Dragons. Conversion unsuccessful.
Dragons lead 26-10
73min gone.
The Eels earn a penalty from the short kick off and immediately go on the offensive as they look to play fast and short down their left edge but the money ball is beautifully read by the St George five-eighth as he plucks it out of the air before Morris (I believe) can nab it and then races 95m to score under the posts. Mason Cerruto put in a desperate chase but he didn’t have the horsepower to gun him down as the scoreline starts to get pretty ugly.
Try scored by the Dragons. Conversion successful.
Dragons lead 32-10
76min gone.
Another short kickoff but no result for the Eels this time around. St George set about building for another attacking raid as they cross halfway with plenty of tackles to spare but they produce another simple error to give the Eels the ball back.
Cerruto and De Luis cart the ball up first. Field plays to Doolan who finds Matterson but the utility player is pulled down before he can find support on his outside. The ball then comes down our left to Maiti-Leifi who does well to break out of a tackle and get back centrefield but on the next play the pass to Gammidge is waaaaaay off the mark and rolls into touch behind the lanky winger.
St George will get one last possession as they rumble into our half but they are content to get to their kick and drill the ball into touch. The Eels aren’t in any sort of rush to pack a scrum and eventually come together to ice the clock with 21 seconds left. Fuimaono runs and flicks to Afualo who goes 12m further downfield. Mason Cerruto bursts into the backfield out of nowhere as the siren rings out but he is taken by Dufty at the back to bring an end to the game.
Full Time
St George Illawarra Dragons 32 DEF Parramatta Eels 10
2017- French at Fullback, Gutho in the halves. Apart from this season being a big stepping stone for the governance of the club which has probably been our biggest issue, It’s good to see so many players committing to the club. It’s GREAT to see the club & coach sticking by the player’s who have been through this horrible period & turned up every week to put in their best effort. If our points weren’t deducted the Eels would be playing finals footy & the media would be praising Gutho for his efforts in the halves. He has all the skills & lets face it, he has been better for us playing the in halves than either Foran or Sandow & he didn’t come with the gambling issues etc & look what we paid for them. I feel better about the future of our great club then I have in a very long time.
IN BRAD WE TRUST