Here Comes the Mitchy!

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Wests Tigers v Parramatta Eels

The return of Mitch Moses to the Parramatta Eels galvanised their attack and saw them run away with their Easter Monday game against the Wests Tigers.

The first half was rife with ill-disciplined play from both sides, with both outfits regularly being penalised for high tackles and rushing up in defence, while also giving away too many set restarts for ruck infringements. This stifled the attack and overall play for both sides in the first stanza.

Sean Russell kicked a penalty goal in the third minute. The Eels produced the first big play in the 13th minute when Mitch Moses kicked a booming 40/20.  Two minutes later the Eels shifted the ball from right to left to Moses, who sent a long ball out to Josh Addo-Carr who skipped out of a tackle and dived over in the corner to score a good try. Russell failed to convert from the sideline.

The Tigers hit back in the 22nd minute when Terrell May stormed onto a crash ball and barged over near the posts for a well deserved try. Adam Doueihi converted to level the scores.

6 minutes later and the Tigers took the lead when they had an overlap where Brent Naden got the ball, but just as he looked to have been shut down, he got an offload away to Jahream Bula who wrapped around in support and scored in the corner. Doueihi narrowly missed the sideline conversion.

Six minutes before halftime, the Eels shifted right to Moses who hit his trailing runner Isaiah Iongi with a nice ball. The fullback ran between the two edge defenders and just got the ball down for a try. Russell failed to convert and at halftime, the scores were 10 apiece.

The second half was barely started when the Eels regained the lead. Moses received the ball on the right and hit his lead runner Kelma Tuilagi, who gets the ball in the defensive line, skips out of the tackle and scores. Russell converted.

3 minutes later, the Tigers dropped a bomb on their own line and a three tackles later, Sam Tuivaiti barged over from dummy half to score. Russell converted.

Another 3 minutes passed and the Eels were in again, this time Addo-Carr made a break down the left sideline who then passed inside to Iongi in support who scored. Russell failed to convert from touch.

The 53rd minute saw Sunia Turuva and Luca Moretti both get sent to the sin bin for a scuffle and 4 minutes later Iongi was binned for a professional foul.

In the 62nd minute, Jarome Luai grubbered into the Eels in-goal and Alex Seyfarth grounded it for a try. Doueihi converted. 

The Tigers crossed again just 4 minutes later when Luai grubbered behind the defensive line that had rushed up on the left edge. Luke Laulilii reached out and somehow manages to get a hand on the rolling ball to score. Doueihi converted to reduce the deficit to just 4 points.

The Tigers began panicking as Moses began controlling. In the 74th minute Moses saw that the Tigers winger was up in the defensive line, so he sent a kick down into the Tigers corner and Bailey Simonsson regathered before falling over the line to score a clever try. Moses then converted from the sideline.

With just 2 minutes remaining in the match, the Tigers pushed a pass near halfway, the ball went to ground, Addo-Carr cleaned up and raced away to score his second try. Ryley Smith converted and the Eels ran out 38-22 victors.