Knights hammer woeful Eels

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Parramatta Eels v Newcastle Knights

The Eels have suffered a heavy 30-4 loss to the Knights at ANZ Stadium tonight, made worse by injury to Mitch Moses.

Parramatta are also set to be without forward Tepai Moeroa who could be set to face some time out with suspension after he was put on report for an ugly shoulder charge which hit Knights forward Heighington in the face.

Parramatta also had to deal with the loss of Bevan French after just 3 minutes when he failed an HIA some 23 minutes before Moses injured his knee. They also had Terepo come off for an HIA and Smith with a hamstring injury midway through the second half.

After some expansive early play which almost saw Ponga score after 3 minutes, the Knights eventually opened the scoring ten minutes later when Moses and Denniss competed to take a Knights bomb. Moses lost it in the contest and the loose ball bounced up nicely into Cogger's hands, who strolled over for the try under the posts. Ponga converted.

The Knights gave away three quick penalties inside their own half, but the Eels could not breach their line. After Moses came from the field with his injured knee, Ponga kicked a penalty goal.

With five minutes remaining in the half, the Knights very nearly scored through Fitzgibbon when he chased through a Ponga grubber. Michael Jennings was found to have illegally impeded Fitzgibbon with what looked like a trip and was sent to the sin bin for ten minutes. Three tackles later and Mata'utia stormed over for a strong try which Ponga converted.

The Knights came out firing in the second half, scoring after just six minutes when a Ponga grubber for Sio was intercepted by Smith, who knocked the ball out of Fitzgibbon's hands, but Sio planted the ball before it went dead. Ponga nailed the sideline conversion.

Ten minutes later and the Knights were in again, this time off an all too easy play. Levi dished a crash ball to Saifiti, who then smashed through the defence and scored to the right of the posts. Ponga again added the extras.

Another ten minutes passed before the Knights scored all too easily once again. His time, Watson drifted left and then strolled through the edge defence and scored out wide. Ponga was unable to convert.

In the last five minutes, the Knights again gave away three straight penalties before Hoffman burst onto a ball to smash his way over the line to get the Eels on the board. Gutherson couldn't convert from out wide.