Jersey Flegg action comes to you from Kellyville today.
After losing the first seven games of the season, Parra had hit a rich vein of form up until their round 16 clash with the ladder leading Raiders. They dominated that match, but missed opportunities and missed conversions saw them drop the game after conceding a try in the last couple of minutes.
Unfortunately they were then drawn to play the third placed Knights and couldn’t rise to the occasion. Today they play the Rabbitohs, a team that they belted in that string of victories.
There are minimal spectator facilities at Kellyville at the moment but I’ll do my best to keep you up to date with proceedings.
| 1 | Apa Twidle |
| 2 | Mohamed Alameddine |
| 3 | Antioch Faitala-Mariner |
| 4 | Araz Nanva |
| 5 | Ollie McCarthy |
| 6 | Matthew Hunter |
| 7 | Joshua Lynn |
| 8 | Sam Tuivati |
| 9 | Yehya Ayache |
| 10 | Teancum Brown |
| 11 | Raf De Stradis |
| 12 | Dom De Stradis |
| 13 | Saxon Pryke |
| Interchange | |
| 14 | Pat Spence |
| 15 | Max Tupou |
| 18 | Tyrese Lokeni |
| 17 | Damascus Neemia |
The Eels are kicking off.
Teams trade sets and Souths break the trend by receiving a penalty. They fail to find touch as Moey Alameddine collects it.
Line break from Matt Hunter and he’s brought down ten out. Ball shift rapidly to the right and there’s a big cut out to McCarthy (from Twidle?) who has a bit to do but scores in the corner.
Conversion unsuccessful.
Eels 4 lead Souths nil. 5 gone
Parra make a mess of the kick off and Souths are attacking ten out. Great defensive set!
Eels get to the kick and are muscling up in defence. They kick from the halfway and Twidle takes a spiralling bomb. Penalty now to Parra.
Parra work through the set and grubber in goal on the last. It’s overcooked so 7 tackle set follows.
Great second phase and fast footy earns two six agains in this set.
Pressure is on Souths now. Parra punch through the middle then hit the left edge. Teancum Brown surges through the defence and plants the ball about ten metres left of the posts. Conversion from Twidle is good.
Eels 10 lead Souths 0 with 20 minutes remaining first half
Great set after points with Parra’s forwards hard to hold. Another great defensive set follows then Alameddine takes an awkward bomb on the last and surges back into the defence with a powerful carry. An error late in the set turns possession over and now Souths get a penalty.
More rock solid defence keeps Souths midfield and now they make a play the ball error. Eels scrum.
The sides exchange sets now and play is stopped for a Souths injury.
Souths charge down the Parra kick and Dom De Stradis does a great job cleaning up the ball. Parra to the 20 and Josh Lynn slices through. Saxon Pryke backs up to score under the posts.
Conversion fromTwidle
Eels 16 lead Souths nil with ten minutes left first half
Another great set after points. Last tackle kick into Souths red zone. More solid defence then Parra again get down to the red zone for a kick on the last bit Spence is penalised for his tackle. Back to back penalties now and Souths are in possession in Parra’s quarter.
A big shift left by Souths amid cries of forward. The Eels slide well and force an error.
Another fine set and a good kick chase from Mariner but two tackles later Souths receive yet another penalty!
Souths drill a last tackle grubber into the in goal to force a drop out.
Eels go long.
Six again here and Parra again repel the Bunnies and force an error.
Half time Eels 16 lead Souths nil
Second Half
Very positive half time chat for the coach and team.
Eels to receive and in the first set they get to the kick. Back to back penalties to Souths follow.
Now a penalty on the last. This is quite the run of calls! Souths grubber low on the last and it looks like one of the DeStradis boys who cleans it up with great hands.
More sets traded. Parra are playing very direct and get another set in the Bunnies quarter. After punching the line for about four tackles they hit the left edge and Raf De Stradis runs a great line to slice through and score.
Conversion from Twidle
Eels 22 lead Souths nil with 25 minutes to go
Rare line break down their right for Souths but Parra field the kick and now earn a penalty. Another penalty now but Parra get scrappy and the error gives Souths a scrum ten out.
Souths last tackle kick finds touch 15 out from Parra’s line. Apa Twidle runs a great line on the third tackle but the ball goes down. Souths on the attack now. Another tremendous defensive set from Parra and they defuse the bomb.
Parra get to their last and Souths field the kick about 30 out. Twidle now takes their last tackle kick and is hit high in his carry. Eels on halfway after the penalty. A bit adventurous from Josh Lynn as his cut out pass to McCarthy sails out of his reach over the sideline.
This Eels defence is sensational today. Bunnies barely make 20 metres before kicking. Parra now complete their set and Souths working play back towards halfway. Souths get enterprising with nice hands to their left on Parra’s 40 but the final pass on Parra’s 20 goes down. Parra try to immediately attack but drop the ball. Eels Scrum
Parra surge downfield. Outside/inside play involving Twidle and Ayache backs up to take a pass and score just to the left of the posts.
Conversion successful by Twidle
Eels 28 lead Souths nil with 9 minutes remaining.
Wow! Parra work back towards halfway from the kick off. A shift right follows and Twidle chimes in magnificently. He slices through the Souths centres and looks to link with McCarthy. He now steps, accelerates and does it all himself and even brings the ball around closer to the posts for his own conversion – which he nails!
Eels 34 lead Souths nil with 7 minutes to go.
What a try! Souths go for a chip behind the Parra line around halfway. Lynn scrambles back and as he hauls it in he reverse passes to Alameddine who had been coming across to cover the kick. Alameddine scythes through the defence and flies away on a 50 metre dash to the line.
Conversion successful!
Eels 40 lead Souths nil with two to go.
oh it’s not finished. Parra put in a last tackle kick into South’s quarter and the Bunnies make a meal of it. Mariner picks it up and races in for the try.
Conversion from Twidle
Full time Eels 46 defeat Souths nil
PS Cabra Sydney Shield match on here next featuring Eels Flegg squad players.
This was an entertaining Sydney Shield clash. The Cabramatta team seemed to be in total control.
Three tries in six minutes to the Moorebank Rams tied up the scores with five minutes remaining. The Rams chanced their hand with a spread around halfway as the clock hit the minute remaining mark, and broke the line down their right. They ended up turning the ball over and Cabra had minimal time to do anything other than play for a draw.
However, they also threw caution to the wind with a chip kick down their left wing on the fourth tackle which was regathered around the Rams quarter with 8 seconds left. Quick play the ball and it looked like they were going to spread the ball to the other wing. The ball came to Damian Nati and rather than continue the spread he steadied and nailed the field goal from around 20 out as the clock hit zero seconds!
Congrats also to the inaugural Eels HNWP who won their opening match of the 2024 season. Their 18 to 10 victory over the Sea Eagles coming after setting up an 18 nil lead in the first 15 minutes.
Sixties
Awesome work from the Flegg lads. It seems we have some genuine talent coming through and the lower grades coaching staff seemed to have adapted better to the new rules. Tough year but there is always hope.
Powerful display today. Played very direct. Souths also struggled to make ground against the Eels defence.
The change of the Flegg team has been massive. At the start of the year they didn’t look like they’d win a game. Unfortunately they may have left their run a bit too late to make the finals but on their day they could beat anyone. An unfortunate loss against the table topping raiders last week and a huge win against 7th placed rabbitohs this week. Hopefully a few games end up in their favour like last year’s Flegg team.
And to think this team is missing: Talagi, Arthur, Sanders and Guymer. With those 4 and the ones that have been up and down in Cup they’d be close to topping the ladder
That loss to the Raiders a couple of weeks back must have been heartbreaking for them. They owned that game until the last couple of minutes. It was great to listen to the huddle at half time today. The players did a great job of identifying their strengths from the first half and being all in to keep the same focus for the second. It then only needed Rankin to praise their awareness and execution and add a couple of reminders.
What a pleasure meeting u today Craig, at the footy watching the lower grades loved our conversation plenty of good footy talk very knowledgeable to say the least!!! U and forty keep up the great work l it keeps me sane cheers Ray from Maroubra
Cheers Ray. Great to meet you too. I’m sure if the footy hadn’t ended and it wasn’t so cold that the footy talk would have stretched even longer!
Thanx matey , looking forward to a post season review for all tct listeners in a nice establishment in Parramatta, plenty to talk about!!!!! Ray from Maroubra