Monday, May 17, 2004
Parra beaten by Storm
Parramatta on Sunday slumped to its third consecutive defeat and dropped out of the eight after they were resoundly defeated by the lower-placed Melbourne Storm.
The Storm won the Parramatta home game 36 to 16.
Match reports have been anything but kind to the Eels. Sportal.com.au said the "Eels bordered on embarrassing", Total Rugby League described the Eels as "inept" and writing for the Sun Herald Phil Gould said “rarely have I seen a first-grade team do so much in a game of football to help their opposition".
"Kick offs went dead in goal on the full. Kicks-offs did not go the required 10 metres. Knock-ons. Forward passes. Hight tackles. Missed tackles. Sloppy play-the-balls. Squandered try scoring opportunities by failing to read simple two-on-one and three-on-two situations," Gould wrote, listing the Eels menu of errors.
Ironically the game couldn't have started any better. A great deep kick off, a slip by Melbourne playmaker Scott Hill and an enthusiastic chase saw the Eels pin the Storm in their in-goal from the kick-off. However, the Eels failed to punish the Storm who instead scored the first try after the Eels backs failed to contest a bomb, which was caught on the fly by a storm player who then lobbed the ball to prop Robbie Kearns who scored under the post.
The Eels did hit back though with Michael Vella slipping a superb back-handed offload to Wade McKinnon who scored only 10 metres from the posts. Luke Burt however fluffed the simple conversion.
It was about this time, however, that the Gods – or more specifically the match officials – turned against the Eels. Dean Widders looked like he had scored a try that would have put the Eels ahead, but the video referee disallowed it. Then referee Steven Clark ruled Eric Grothe had played at a ball he clearly had not and awarded the Storm six more tackles. From the ensuing set of six the Storm scored.
Thankfully, a try on the stroke of half time kept the Eels hopes alives with Daniel Wagon drifting a cross field and creating an overlap that saw Matt Peterson go over in the corner. Burt failed to convert again, admittedly this time from the side line, leaving the Eels down 16 to eight.
The start of the second half saw the Eels attacking but unable to get over the Storm line. Then suddenly the Storm took half a chance, throwing the ball out wide to centre Steven Bell who ran 70 metres to score after a flying Luke Burt fell off an unsuccessful attempt to run the centre down.
Things only got worse. The Eels ruck opened up like it was the Red Sea parting for Moses allowing Cameron Smith to barge over and of course there was the obligatory couple of tries scored in the corner after Eels backs failed to number up properly creating an overlap.
A late try on the buzzer to Adam Dykes did nothing to make Eels fans feel better about what was a heart-breaking thumping.
The Storm won the Parramatta home game 36 to 16.
Match reports have been anything but kind to the Eels. Sportal.com.au said the "Eels bordered on embarrassing", Total Rugby League described the Eels as "inept" and writing for the Sun Herald Phil Gould said “rarely have I seen a first-grade team do so much in a game of football to help their opposition".
"Kick offs went dead in goal on the full. Kicks-offs did not go the required 10 metres. Knock-ons. Forward passes. Hight tackles. Missed tackles. Sloppy play-the-balls. Squandered try scoring opportunities by failing to read simple two-on-one and three-on-two situations," Gould wrote, listing the Eels menu of errors.
Ironically the game couldn't have started any better. A great deep kick off, a slip by Melbourne playmaker Scott Hill and an enthusiastic chase saw the Eels pin the Storm in their in-goal from the kick-off. However, the Eels failed to punish the Storm who instead scored the first try after the Eels backs failed to contest a bomb, which was caught on the fly by a storm player who then lobbed the ball to prop Robbie Kearns who scored under the post.
The Eels did hit back though with Michael Vella slipping a superb back-handed offload to Wade McKinnon who scored only 10 metres from the posts. Luke Burt however fluffed the simple conversion.
It was about this time, however, that the Gods – or more specifically the match officials – turned against the Eels. Dean Widders looked like he had scored a try that would have put the Eels ahead, but the video referee disallowed it. Then referee Steven Clark ruled Eric Grothe had played at a ball he clearly had not and awarded the Storm six more tackles. From the ensuing set of six the Storm scored.
Thankfully, a try on the stroke of half time kept the Eels hopes alives with Daniel Wagon drifting a cross field and creating an overlap that saw Matt Peterson go over in the corner. Burt failed to convert again, admittedly this time from the side line, leaving the Eels down 16 to eight.
The start of the second half saw the Eels attacking but unable to get over the Storm line. Then suddenly the Storm took half a chance, throwing the ball out wide to centre Steven Bell who ran 70 metres to score after a flying Luke Burt fell off an unsuccessful attempt to run the centre down.
Things only got worse. The Eels ruck opened up like it was the Red Sea parting for Moses allowing Cameron Smith to barge over and of course there was the obligatory couple of tries scored in the corner after Eels backs failed to number up properly creating an overlap.
A late try on the buzzer to Adam Dykes did nothing to make Eels fans feel better about what was a heart-breaking thumping.
