Eels second-half show leaves Dragons in their dust

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Parramatta Eels v St George Illawarra Dragons

St George Illawarra had a solid first half and got out to a 14-0 lead before the Parramatta Eels stepped up a gear in the second half to cruise to a 32-18 victory at Bankwest Stadium

It took until the 12th minute for any player to get across the line, when Tariq Sims fell over backwards, but he was held up. It took another six minutes before the scoreboard attendant was finally put to work, when Zac Lomax kicked a penalty goal.

In the 27th minute, the Dragons went to the right where Cameron McInnes put in a delicate grubber from dummy half and Ben Hunt chased through to plant it for a try. Lomax converted.

Five minutes later, the Dragons scored a stunning try. Mikaele Ravalawa, from the kick return, busted out of two tackles, offloaded to Jordan Pereira who busted out of a tackle and then got his arms free in the next to offload to Corey Norman, who brushed off one tackle before passing in-field to Tim Lafai. Lafai then drew Clint Gutherson and turned the ball back to fullback Matt Dufty who changed direction and raced away down the left sideline to score. Lomax added the extras.

Three minutes before the break and the Eels finally got on the board when Reed Mahoney dived over from dummy half to score. Mitch Moses converted.

Just 2 minutes after the break, Gutherson from dummy half and 30 metres from his own line, spotted a gap behind marker and he shot through the line and ran 70 metres to score under the posts untouched. Moses converted.

From the kick return, Gutherson passed to Maika Sivo close to the defensive line and the winger hit the gap at pace, brushed off defenders before racing 60 metres to score. Moses again converted.

The Dragons struck back 4 minutes later when the Dragons shifted to the right side with some good catching and passing before Norman put Ravalawa over in the corner for a try. Norman suffered a heavy head knock was taken from the field. Lomax failed to convert from touch, with the scores locked at 18 all.

In the 58th minute Moses kicked a penalty goal. Five minutes later Moses changed direction on the last, kicked to Blake Ferguson's wing, who juggled the ball and scored, before pulling out a celebratory backflip. Moses converts to give the Eels an 8 point lead.

In the 71st minute, Moses again shifted direction, sending a long ball to Michael Jennings, who quickly sent it on to Sivo who powered his way over the line for a try on the left side. Moses was unable to convert.

Moses added a penalty goal 5 minutes from the siren and despite some hail mary plays from the Dragons, the scoreline remained unchanged.