Round 4
Parramatta Eels 38 d. Canberra Raiders 6

2007 NRL Telstra Premiership Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

Location: Aus_NZ > National > First Grade Competition: NRL Telstra Premiership

Eels put away woeful Raiders
Sat April 7, 2007
It wasn't the Raiders night at Parramatta Stadium as they failed to complete 50% of their sets and had a running battle with referee Gavin Badger with the Eels winning 38-6.

Parramatta was never in danger of losing, but Canberra must be wondering who they've offended at the NRL with all the calls going against them tonight on top of a lop-sided 9-5 penalty count. Just about everything didn't go the Raiders way and that added to their frustration by completing just 20 out of 41 sets whereas Parramatta on the other hand completed 35 out of 48 sets. No team with that sort of completion is going to stand a chance in any match, let alone the NRL.

The Eels led 12-0 at half-time thanks to tries from Nathan Hindmarsh and Ben Smith and two conversions from Luke Burt. Hindmarsh's try in the 12th minute was all too easy where he cut through the front line of defence and had a saloon 50m passage to the try line.

Parramatta scored five tries in the opening 22 minutes of the second half with Ben Smith collecting his double in the 44th minute and Nathan Hindmarsh also scoring his second five minutes later. Tries followed up to Jarryd Hayne (54th), Mark Riddell (57th) and Josh Cordoba (62nd) for the Eels to race out to a 38-0 lead.

Canberra finally got over the line in the 65th minute through Lincoln Withers and the final 15 minutes was just a scrappy affair to finish off what was an ordinary match.

The Eels did what they had to do to get the two points in convincing fashion whereas Canberra were simply awful and were unable to backup last weeks miracle effort against Newcastle.

Nathan Hindmarsh was the stand out performer for the Eels and debutants Krisnan Inu who replaced Timana Tahu at left centre and Blake Green who replaced Brett Finch also had strong matches.

Withers and captain Alan Tongue both made over 40 tackles for the Raiders as they were forced to do plenty of defending due to their mistakes and the penalty count.

It's a match that will give the Eels great confidence and a forgettable night for the Raiders as Parramatta were average at best and Canberra well 32 points worse off.

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