Saturday, August 21, 2004
Eels wallop Warriors
The Parramatta Eels have kept their slim finals hopes alive by smashing the New Zealand Warriors by 48 to 18.
The Eels totally outplayed the Warriors and were led well by their young halves combination Michael Witt and Chris Thorman, who provided a lot of the spark and creativity that the Eels have missed all year.
The Eels began at a hundred miles an hour when Matt Peterson was first to a short grubber to make it six nil after only 3 minutes. Five minutes later Michael Witt through a cut out pass to Matt Peterson who found open space, kicked back in field and Witt followed through to make it twelve to nix.
Ashley Graham should have made it three tries in ten minutes but dropped the ball over the line out wide a few minutes later.
With that let off, the Warriors then started to work themselves back into the game, with the Eels taking their foot off the gas. A Lee Hopkins pass from dummy half found no-one except for Tony Martin who ran throught after picking up the ball to touch down untouched.
However, the Eels regained their compusure and Chris Thorman broke the line and sent Wade McKinnon over for a try and then Dean Widders did likewise for Ashley Graham, who made no mistake with his second opportunity.
That gave the Eels a 22 to 6 lead at half-time.
The first points in the second half came from a penalty kick to Michael Witt, however the first try came after Lance Hohaia beat James Webster cold and scored under the post.
But just as the Warriors looked threatening again, Michael Witt threw a dummy from a centre-field scrum inside the New Zealand twenty which was swallowed by all defenders and the young half ran through the hole to score a fine individual try.
When Lee Hopkins scored next the Eels guaranteed themselves victory even though Richard Villasanti went over a couple of minutes later after fielding a wobbly Brent Webb bomb.
Parramatta put the icing on the cake when James Webster redeemed himself for the Hohaia try and then Justin Tsoulos bagged his first try of the year to give the Eels a convincing thirty point victory.
With the Tigers going down to Brisbane, the Eels are now just two points outside of the eighth and currently sit in tenth position ahead of Newcastle and the Raiders who play tomorrow.
The Eels totally outplayed the Warriors and were led well by their young halves combination Michael Witt and Chris Thorman, who provided a lot of the spark and creativity that the Eels have missed all year.
The Eels began at a hundred miles an hour when Matt Peterson was first to a short grubber to make it six nil after only 3 minutes. Five minutes later Michael Witt through a cut out pass to Matt Peterson who found open space, kicked back in field and Witt followed through to make it twelve to nix.
Ashley Graham should have made it three tries in ten minutes but dropped the ball over the line out wide a few minutes later.
With that let off, the Warriors then started to work themselves back into the game, with the Eels taking their foot off the gas. A Lee Hopkins pass from dummy half found no-one except for Tony Martin who ran throught after picking up the ball to touch down untouched.
However, the Eels regained their compusure and Chris Thorman broke the line and sent Wade McKinnon over for a try and then Dean Widders did likewise for Ashley Graham, who made no mistake with his second opportunity.
That gave the Eels a 22 to 6 lead at half-time.
The first points in the second half came from a penalty kick to Michael Witt, however the first try came after Lance Hohaia beat James Webster cold and scored under the post.
But just as the Warriors looked threatening again, Michael Witt threw a dummy from a centre-field scrum inside the New Zealand twenty which was swallowed by all defenders and the young half ran through the hole to score a fine individual try.
When Lee Hopkins scored next the Eels guaranteed themselves victory even though Richard Villasanti went over a couple of minutes later after fielding a wobbly Brent Webb bomb.
Parramatta put the icing on the cake when James Webster redeemed himself for the Hohaia try and then Justin Tsoulos bagged his first try of the year to give the Eels a convincing thirty point victory.
With the Tigers going down to Brisbane, the Eels are now just two points outside of the eighth and currently sit in tenth position ahead of Newcastle and the Raiders who play tomorrow.
