A stunning six-minute period from Parramatta Eels helped them come from 10-0 down to defeat Penrith Panthers 16-10.
Having not scored a point entering the final 20 minutes, the competition leaders scored three tries in a blistering spell to take the game right away from their opponents.
Parramatta started the game with an aerial assault of Penrith’s wingers which culminated in a disallowed try to Ryan Matterson. Penrith responded and had a Dean Whare try from a high kick disallowed, both due to pushes on defenders.
The Panthers wingers, under pressure, got their revenge once Penrith had a foothold in the game. Brian To’o showed great feet to open the scoring after 22 minutes before, with three minutes left of the first half, silky hands from Stephen Crichton sent Josh Mansour in to establish a 10-0 lead for the visitors at the break.
Parramatta hung in the game and while in the opening 20 minutes of the second half, they didn’t make any impression, they kept plugging away and got their reward in the final 20 of the game. Waqa Blake fended away from Stephen Crichton for their first try. Then Blake broke again but this time he found Clint Gutherson on the inside.
Now level, the Eels immediately took the lead. A kick from Mitchell Moses outfoxed Caleb Aekins giving Matterson an easy try.
Dylan Brown was sent to the sin bin for a professional foul as Penrith piled on the pressure but the Eels survived.
Eels: Gutherson, Sivo, Jennings, Blake, Ferguson, D Brown, Moses, Campbell-Gillard, Mahoney, Paulo, Lane, Matterson, N Brown; Interchanges: Stone, Niukore, Evans, Terepo
Tries: Blake, Gutherson, Matterson; Goals: Moses 2
Sin bin: D Brown (80) – professional foul
Panthers: Aekins, Mansour, Whare, Crichton, To’o, Luai, Cleary, Tamou, Koroisau, Fisher-Harris, Kikau, Capewell, Yeo; Interchanges: Burton, Tetevano, Leota, Martin
Tries: To’o, Mansour; Goals: Cleary
Full match reports of all this weekend’s NRL games will feature in Monday’s League Express.
