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Fri March 27 2009, 7:30PM AEDT GMT+11Fri: Wests Tigers 40 d. Sydney Roosters 24 at
Sydney Football Stadium, Driver Ave, Moore Park, Sydney (NSW)Crowd: 14,426
Fri March 27 2009, 7:30PM AEST GMT+10Fri: Gold Coast Titans 20 d. Bulldogs 12 at
Skilled Park, Robina, Gold Coast (QLD)Crowd: 19,854
Sat March 28 2009, 7:30PM NZDT GMT+13Sat: New Zealand Warriors 10 l. Brisbane Broncos 26 at
Mt Smart Stadium, Penrose, Auckland (NZ)Crowd: 24,538
Sat March 28 2009, 7:30PM AEST GMT+10Sat: Parramatta Eels 18 d. Canberra Raiders 16 at
Parramatta Stadium, Parramatta, Sydney (NSW)Crowd: 11,116
Sat March 28 2009, 8:30PM AEST GMT+10Sat: North Queensland Cowboys 12 l. Melbourne Storm 26 at
Dairy Farmers Stadium, Kirwan, Townsville (QLD)Crowd: 21,849
Sun March 29 2009, 2:00PM AEDT GMT+11Sun: South Sydney Rabbitohs 22 d. Newcastle Knights 12 at
BlueTongue Central Coast Stadium, Gosford, Central Coast (NSW)Crowd: 15,277
Sun March 29 2009, 3:00PM AEDT GMT+11Sun: St George Illawarra Dragons 10 d. Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 6 at
Kogarah Jubilee Oval, Kogarah, Sydney (NSW)Crowd: 20,047
Mon March 30 2009, 7:00PM AEDT GMT+11Mon: Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 10 l. Penrith Panthers 12 at
Brookvale Oval, Brookvale, Sydney (NSW)Crowd: 8,667
Sun March 29, 2009
Source: www.parraeels.com.auThree late tries have secured the Pirtek Parramatta Eels a gripping 18-16 victory over the Canberra Raiders in their round three Telstra Premiership clash at Parramatta Stadium.
A 95 metre intercept try from Jarryd Hayne sparked a comeback that saw the score turn from 16-4 against the Eels to 18-16 in their favour, securing the two competition points.
The result was a fitting way for the Eels to mark their return home for 2009, and sees them head into week four with a zero points differential and two wins from three games.
A boisterous opening home crowd of 11,110 was given plenty to get noisy about in the opening stages, with both sides unlucky not to score inside the first ten minutes after a series of promising attacking raids.
A Terry Campese 40-20 in the 11th minute allowed the Raiders to build pressure, and it told two tackles later with Joel Monahan opening his side's account with a try from close range. Campese added the extras for a 6-nil lead.
The Raiders were playing with plenty of enthusiasm and thought they'd opened up a 12 point lead on 17 minutes when wing Justin Carney sprinted 40 metres to score after shooting through the middle of a scrum.
However video referee Russell Smith had other ideas, disallowing the try after replays showed a clear obstruction in the scrum.
The Raiders then lost fullback David Milne to the sin bin, and the Eels took full advantage of the one man overlap by neatly working the short side to put Eric Grothe over the line. Burt's conversion attempt hit the post, leaving the Raiders ahead by six points to four.
The first half ended in a scrap, with the Raiders unable to add to their tally despite having the greater share of possession.
Giving away that possession early in the tackle count hurt the Eels after the resumption, the Raiders stretching their lead to six points in the 51st minute through a try to rookie centre Jarrod Croker.
And when they followed it up six minutes later with a try to second rower Joe Picker the Raiders seemed in control at 16-4.
Carney was denied again by video referee Smith 20 minutes out from full time after he was ruled to have been pulled up short, and the Eels made it arguably a 12 point turnaround just tackles later when Hayne scored his intercept try to get the Eels back in the game.
Burt then brought the crowd to its feet, nailing a pressure conversion from the sideline to get the Eels back within striking distance at 16-10.
The Hayne try put some life back into the Eels attack and focusing on completing their sets they scored again, Krisnan Inu touching down off a beautifully placed Brett Finch grubber kick to make it 16-14, with Burt missing the conversion attempt.
The deficit would be reversed soon after, with Hayne putting it through the hands on the next set for Grothe to score his second try. Again Burt missed with a tough shot, however this time the Eels had hit the lead 18-16.
However victory was far from assured as the Raiders looked to counter, Croker unlucky not to bag his second five minutes out from full time with replays showing he'd dropped the ball over the line.
From there the Eels tackled their way to a two point victory.
The Eels play the Sydney Roosters for the Jack Gibson Cup next Friday night at the Sydney Football Stadium.
TELSTRA PREMIERSHIP
Pirtek Parramatta Eels 18 (Eric Grothe 2, Jarryd Hayne, Krisnan Inu tries; Luke Burt 1 goal from 4 attempts) defeated the Canberra Raiders 16 (Joel Monaghan, Jarrod Croker, Joe Picker tries; Terry Campese 2 goals from 3 attempts) At Parramatta Stadium. Crowd: 11,110 Referees: Steve Lyons & Chris James.
NRL Stats: Eels 18 v Raiders 16
NYC Stats: Eels 32 v Raiders 44
Eels v Raiders Discussion ThreadSat March 28, 2009
New Canberra coach David Furner has experienced an altogether different start to his coaching career compared to fellow newcomers Ivan Henjak and Kevin Moore this season.
After two weeks of the 2009 competition, Furner can already feel the pressure after lacklustre efforts against the Wests Tigers and Sydney Roosters.
Most disturbing for Raiders fans was the team's inability to post more than one try against the Roosters at Canberra Stadium last Sunday. The single try, scored by new recruit Bronson Harrison, was scored only seconds from fulltime, preventing the club's first whitewash on home soil.
The Raiders also went scoreless in the second half against the Wests Tigers in round one meaning that for almost 120 minutes, Canberra failed to score a single point.
That is a far cry from the Raiders team that finished the 2008 season as one of the premier attacking outfits in the competition. They may struggle for points again this week against a Parramatta team that was especially resolute in its defence against South Sydney last Friday night.
Criticised for their lack of application in 2008, the Eels produced an outstanding 80 minutes against the Rabbitohs, even if they managed to score only two tries themselves.
Look to a Parramatta try as First Scoring Play ($2-50) and an Eels' victory by 13+ points ($2-30).
First Tryscoring candidates include Eric Grothe ($11), Jarryd Hayne ($15) and Krisnan Inu ($13) for Parramatta or Joel Monaghan ($13) or David Milne ($15) for the Raiders.
Saturday March 28, 2009
Parramatta Eels vs Canberra Raiders at Parramatta Stadium, Parramatta, Sydney (NSW)
Parramatta Eels
1 Luke Burt, 2 Joel Reddy, 3 Ben Smith, 4 Krisnan Inu, 5 Eric Grothe , 6 Jarryd Hayne, 7 Brett Finch, 8 Nathan Cayless [c], 9 Matthew Keating, 10 Fuifui Moimoi, 11 Nathan Hindmarsh, 12 Joe Galuvao, 13 Feleti Mateo. Subs: 14 Kris Keating, 15 Todd Lowrie , 16 Tim Mannah, 17 Broderick Wright.
Canberra Raiders
1 David Milne, 2 Brett Kelly, 3 Jarrod Croker, 4 Joel Monaghan, 5 Justin Carney, 6 Terry Campese, 7 Marc Herbert, 8 David Shillington, 9 Stuart Flanagan, 10 Josh Miller, 11 Joe Picker, 12 Bronson Harrison, 13 Alan Tongue [c]. Subs: 14 Tom Learoyd-Lahrs, 15 Trevor Thurling, 16 Glen Turner, 17 Nigel Plum.
Date: Sat March 28 2009, 7:30PM AEST GMT+10 [Sat March 28 2009, 9:30AM GMT]
Referee: Steve Lyons, Chris James
Predictions:
Matthew O'Neill: Eels by 16
Paul Booth: Eels by 16
OVERALL:
Total Games: 43
Parramatta Eels wins: 23. [Pts: 941]
Canberra Raiders wins: 20. [Pts: 864]
Draws: 0
Biggest wins:
Parramatta Eels: 51 pts: 1982 J J Giltinan Shield and Winfield Cup - Round 7 - [View] Sun Apr 11: Eels 54 d. Raiders 3 [Crowd: 6429]
Canberra Raiders: 68 pts: 1993 J J Giltinan Shield and Winfield Cup - Round 21 - [View] Sun Aug 22: Raiders 68 d. Eels 0 [Crowd: 20411]
Biggest Crowd: 1993 J J Giltinan Shield and Winfield Cup - Round 21 - [View] Sun Aug 22: Raiders 68 d. Eels 0 [Crowd: 20411]
Last 50 games against each other form line (most recent matches at end of line):
Parramatta Eels: WWWLWLWWWLWWWLWLLLWLLLLWWLLWWWLWWLLLLWLWWLW
Canberra Raiders: LLLWLWLLLWLLLWLWWWLWWWWLLWWLLLWLLWWWWLWLLWL
Last 10 games:
2008 NRL Telstra Premiership - Round 13 - [View] Sat: Parramatta Eels 30 d. Canberra Raiders 12 [Crowd: 10195]
2007 NRL Telstra Premiership - Round 13 - [View] Sat: Canberra Raiders 38 d. Parramatta Eels 10
2007 NRL Telstra Premiership - Round 4 - [View] Sat: Parramatta Eels 38 d. Canberra Raiders 6 [Crowd: 10092]
2006 NRL Telstra Premiership - Round 17 - [View] Sat: Raiders 12 l. Eels 18 [Crowd: 8824]
2006 NRL Telstra Premiership - Round 9 - [View] Sat: Eels 10 l. Raiders 30 [Crowd: 10146]
2005 NRL Telstra Premiership - Round 25 - [View] Sun: Eels 48 d. Raiders 10 [Crowd: 13315]
2005 NRL Telstra Premiership - Round 19 - [View] Sun: Raiders 26 d. Eels 18 [Crowd: 13238]
2004 NRL Telstra Premiership - Round 4 - [View] Sat Apr 3: Raiders 26 d. Eels 12 [Crowd: 13285]
2003 NRL Telstra Premiership - Round 13 - [View] Sat Jun 7: Raiders 50 d. Eels 14 [Crowd: 12698]
2003 NRL Telstra Premiership - Round 5 - [View] Sun Apr 13: Eels 22 l. Raiders 36 [Crowd: 11081]
NRL Live Scores & Stats:Eels v Raiders
NYC Live Scores & Stats: Eels v Raiders
Eels v Raiders Discussion Thread
Round 3
Parramatta Eels 18 d. Canberra Raiders 16
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