Dragons winger Mikaele Ravalawa scored a first half hattrick and added a fourth try early in the second half, all but putting the Dragons in a strong position to win the game... but another Eels blitz in the final 20 minutes got Parramatta home at Commbank Stadium on Sunday.
The first half saw the Eels get away to a flying start when Bailey Simonsson got a good ball over the top to the unmarked rookie, Arthur Miller-Stephen, who dives over to score on debut.Mitch Moses failed to convert from the sideline. From the restart, the Eels went the length of the field, eventually resulting in a try to Bryce Cartwright which Moses converted. After 13 minutes, the Eels lead 10-0 and were looking keen to pile on a big score.
The Dragons though got back into the game when Ravalawa tried to get across the stripe, but for the second time, Miller-Stephen denied him and took him into touch with a great tackle.
In the 18th minute Tyrell Sloan made a break down the right sideline. The Dragons earned a fresh set after the next tackle, where they sent the ball out to Ravalawa and this time he did just enough to get the ball down for a try. Lomax converted from the sideline.
The Dragons levelled the scores in the 26th minute when Ravalawa crashed over for his second try. Lomax couldn't convert from out wide, leaving the scores tied at 10 apiece.
In the final minute of the first half, Ben Hunt got side-on to the defence, shaped to pass to the runner coming back in-field before firing a long ball to the unmarked Ravalawa, who scores in the corner. Lomax converted from touch. At halftime, the Dragons held a narrow 16-10 lead.
Ravalawa trampled over Clint Gutherson in the 52nd minute to storm over for his fourth try of the game, which Lomax failed to convert from the sideline.
Jacob Liddle went very close to scoring himself just 3 minutes later but a loose carry saw him turn the ball over just 5 metres shy of the line.
Then with just 20 minutes left in the game and with the Eels attack looking rather disjointed, Eels winger Sean Russell got a an early ball with plenty of defence to contend with, but he stepped Ravalawa and snuck under the cover defence to score a much needed try. Moses failed to convert, keeping the Eels deficit at 6 points.
Five minutes later, Ryan Matterson threw a brilliant flat cut-out pass which hit Junior Paulo perfectly and the big prop scored under the sticks. Moses converted to level the scores at 20 apiece.
Bryce Cartwright was in the right place at the right time when, just 9 minutes from full-time, a Dylan Brown kick was fumbled in the contest, falling into the waiting hands of Cartwright and he dived over to score. Moses converted from in front and the Eels kept the Dragons from scoring for the remaining 8 minutes to hold on to a narrow 26-20 victory.