Home side earn a win over their western Sydney NRL rivals.
The Parramatta Eels have continued to shown promising signs this NRL season, after defeating the Penrith Panthers 32-16 at Pirtek Stadium.
Scoring six tries to three, most of which came in a dominant second half from the Eels, the yellow and gold side look a shadow from their last-placed selves from the past two seasons.
Parramatta opened the scored thanks to centre Willie Tonger, after he timed his run to
perfection and snaffled a pass out of mid-air, before racing away to score.
The recalled Chris Sandow added the extras to give his side a vital 6-0 lead at home.
Penrith found their ryhthym and the try-line in the 27th saw Issac John score with Matt Moylan converting it, to see the scores even up.
Nathan Peats, recalled to the Eels side after sitting out one match due to an in-house suspension, darted over from dummy half with Sandow’s right foot giving the home side another converted try lead.
However, the see-sawing game saw Lewis Brown throw a dummy-pass and crash over the line to see the margin close to just two at the break.
Peats said his side knew they could improve after not completing six of their 17 sets in the first 40 minutes.
“Dissapointing for them to score then, but it’s the quickest game I have played in a while,” Peats said.
“We were luck to score those two tries of ours but I think if we stay in the wrestle against them we can come away with the win.”
Penrith got the perfect start to the second stanza when Dean Whare captalised on a short-staffed Eels’ defence on the right edge as he twisted his way over for his second try for the season.
The away side grabbed the lead and Moylan extended it with the kick, as they jumped out to 16-12 after 44 miniutes.
However, the home side did not have to wait long for their reply as Manu Ma’u survived a video ref call, to score his first NRL try as the blue and gold side jumped ahead again bu two points.
Parramatta’s sensational winger Semi Radradra scored his seventh try for the season in just week four, as he showed amazing strength to get across in the corner despite the tackle from David Simmons.
Sandow’s conversion attempt from the sideline hit the upright, however, the Eels enjoyed a 22-16 lead.
The Eels then landed another significant blow as Jarryd Hayne caught the soft Panters’ defence close to the line as he bulldozed his way over for a try, as the lead grow to a healthy 12 points with as miny minutes remaining.
The icing on the victory for the Eels as Ken Sio celebrated his first game in the NRL as he finished off a silky backline move, with the margin ballooning out to 16.
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