Eels secure finals spot

Round 24
Sydney Roosters 26 v Parramatta Eels 40
at Aussie Stadium
Referee: Paul Simpkins

Match Summary:
The Parramatta Eels have secured a Top 8 spot in this year?s finals series and have continued their winning streak by defeating the Sydney Roosters 40 ? 26 today at Aussie Stadium.

In a high scoring match, the Eels sent a strong message out to the other premiership contenders by putting 40 points on the depleted Bondi Junction unit and showing how devastating their attack can be as well as how strong their defence is.

The Roosters were the first to score when Amos Roberts crossed the line in the 3rd minute showing brilliant footwork.

The Eels struck back 5 minutes later when Eels center Luke O?Dywer ran a nice angle to give a flick pass to the solid number 5 Eric Grothe Jr, who juggled the ball over the line to register four points.

From there, Parramatta?s confidence rose, and with a bit of luck here and there, they started to steam roll the tri-colours.

The Eels continued the onslaught in the second half scoring two tries and adding a penalty goal to the scoreboard within the first 11mins.

But the Roosters didn?t give up, and in the 56th minute, Chris Flannery strolled on through to score 4 points. This was quickly backed up by a great 40/20 kick from the young halfback Josh Lewis, who kicked from inside his own 30.

The Roosters then scored through their skipper in the 71st minute. Fitzgibbon converted his own try.

Roosters centre Ryan Cross caused some trouble in the last few seconds by shoving his elbow in to a Parramatta player, which fired up a few, but a fight was avoided.

The Eels have now won nine on the trot and may have booked themselves a home semi-final as well. They will hope to continue their winning streak next week when they face the Broncos at Parramatta Stadium where as the Roosters will travel to New Zealand in hope that they can get their 1000th win over the Warriors.

Scorers:
Sydney Roosters: 26
Tries: Ryan Cross(2), Craig Fitzgibbon, Chris Flannery, Amos Roberts
Goals: Craig Fitzgibbon 3/4
Parramatta Eels: 40
Tries: Eric Grothe, Peter-John Marsh, Luke O'Dwyer(2), Ben Smith , Dean Widders, Jarryd Hayne
Goals: Luke Burt 6/8

By the Clock:
The Sydney Roosters will host the in-form Parramatta Eels today at Aussie Stadium. The Eels will look to continue their eight match winning streak and good run home to the finals while the Roosters will play for a record of 1000 victories, a milestone that has not been achieved in the long history of rugby league in Australia.

Roosters coach Ricky Stuart has made one change to his team, promoting Nigel Plum to the starting side as prop and dropping Shane Shackleton to the bench. The Eels are as per program.

Kickoff - The Eels get us underway care of Luke Burt's boot. The Roosters recieve the ball and will run right to left.

2 min: NEWS Mark Riddell kicks the ball out on the full. Roosters now have posession inside the Eels half.

3 min: TRY Sydney Roosters
Amos Roberts shows briliant footwork after recieving a ball from Ryan Cross close to the sideline. Roberts manages to stay in the field of play and ground the ball before touching the corner post. Fitzgibbon fails to convert.
Roosters 4-0

7 min: TRY Parramatta Eels
Luke O'Dywer runs the angle before off-loading a nice flickpass to Eric Grothe who juggles the ball over the line to score. Luke Burt fails to add the two.
4 all.

11 min: NEWS David Shillington's swinging arm connects with Glenn Morrison's head. Morrison looks a bit groggy but his on his feet. Eels recieve a penalty.

11 min: TRY Parramatta Eels
Jarryd Hayne, the try scoring machine, recieves a pass over the top from Eels five-eighth John Morris and strolls over the white line. It looked all to easy for the Parramatta winger. Luke Burt converts.
Eels 10-4

14 min: TRY Sydney Roosters
Young Roosters halfback Josh Lewis takes the ball to the line mid-field before putting in a nice grubber kick for his outside backs. Amos Roberts gets the bounce and draws Eels players before passing to Ryan Cross. Fitzgibbon adds the extras.
10 all.

22 min: NEWS Eels have the ball inside the Roosters 20 but fail to capatilise after Morrison throws a wobbly pass to nobody. Morrison looked to be in two minds. Tupou cleans up for the Roosters.

24 min: NEWS Eels have another chance now inside the Roosters 20 after young Roosters fullback gets a bad bounce off the kick from Eels Dean Widders and knocks on.

24 min: TRY Parramatta Eels
Eels utility Dean Widders runs straight through an ordinary Roosters defence on their goal-line to score. Luke Burt converts.
Eels 16-10

26 min: TRY Parramatta Eels
The Eels once again take it to the Roosters line and throw the ball through the hands. Morris puts a grubber kick in and finds a flying Ben Smith who scores with ease. Luke Burt adds another 2 from the side-line.
Eels 22-10

30 min: NEWS The Roosters will recieve a repeat set of six now courtesy of a Josh Lewis grubber kick.

31 min: TRY Sydney Roosters
Jamie Soward puts the ball on to his left boot with Roosters centre Cross in toe. Jarryd Hayne fails to clean up and Cross pounces on the ball and scores, just before the dead-ball line. Video Referee Steve Nash gives Cross the benefit of the doubt. Fitzgibbon misses the kick.
Eels 22-14

34 min: NEWS The Roosters get pulled up for restarting to quickly, before referee Simpkins allowed it. Soward and Finch are not happy.

38 min: NEWS The Eels will have one last chance before half-time to put more points on the board. This comes after a poor kick from Amos Roberts down the side-line which goes out on the full.

40 min: TRY Parramatta Eels
Luke O'Dywer does well to take a bomb from Wade McKinnon and keep himself in teh field of play to register 4 points. Burt fails to convert.
Eels 26-14

HALF-TIME

Penalties: SYD 3 PAR 5
Tackles: SYD 139 PAR 116
Miss Tackles: SYD 16 PAR 10
Offloads: SYD 6 PAR 3
Errors: SYD 5 PAR 3
Kicks: SYD 10 PAR 10

Kickoff- Josh Lewis for the Roosters gets the second half underway. The Eels recieve and will run right to left.

44 min: NEWS A poor play the ball from Ashley Harrison results in a scrum to the Eels. They now have the ball mid-field.

45 min: TRY Parramatta Eels
Luke O'Dywer comes out of nowhere to pick up a poorly executed kick from Dean Widders and score. Burt is successful.
Eels 32-14

50 min: NEWS Aggresive defence being shown by Parramatta, with strong tackles being made in packs inside the Roosters 20.

53 min: NEWS Jeremy Smith goes down. Play is breifly halted while a trainer attends the halfback. He is now back on his feet.

56 min: PENALTY GOAL Parramatta Eels
The Roosters are penalised by referee Simpkins for being inside the ten. Hindmarsh looks to the bench and then points to the posts. Burt doesn't let his team down and adds the 2.
Eels 34-14

61 min: TRY Parramatta Eels
PJ Marsh scoots out of dummy half and breaks the line. He throws the dummy before diving over for 4 points. Burt's kick is struck well, and another 2 points are added.
Eels 40-14

64 min: TRY Sydney Roosters
Chris Flannery recieves a flat ball from Lewis on the Eels line and is carried over by the Eels players and scores. Fitzgibbon converts.
Eels 40-20

70 min: NEWS Josh Lewis amazingly kicks a 40/20 inside his own 30m line, giving the Roosters a great attacking chance.

71 min: TRY Sydney Roosters
Craig Fitzgibbon strolls through off a John Doyle pass and scores under the posts. He converts his own try.
Eels 40-26

72 min: NEWS Roosters lock Ashley Harrison is down and looks to be in tremendous pain. Play has been halted. Ronnie Plamer, Roosters trainer, and Dr John Orchard have called for a medicab. He is taken off the field.

77 min: NEWS Jamie Soward does well to kick the ball out and win a scrum for his team off the 20m restart. The Roosters fowards were down there quickly to set up the scrum.

80 min: NEWS Cross is penalised for shoving his elbow in to a Parramatta player's face. A fight nearly breaks out.

FULL-TIME - and the Eels have won their ninth straight match. The Roosters put a good fight but the Eels were just to good.

Penalties: SYD 5 PAR 8
Tackles: SYD 286 PAR 232
Miss Tackles: SYD 34 PAR 27
Offloads: SYD 11 PAR 4
Errors: SYD 12 PAR 7
Kicks: SYD 18 PAR 22
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Leagueunlimited.com players of the match:
3 - Jarryd Hayne
2 - Luke O
1 - John Morris
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