Late surge sees Eels blow out the Doggies

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Parramatta Eels v Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs

The Parramatta Eels have made it 3 wins in a row, coming back from a half-time deficit to beat the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs by 26, the final score at Bankwest Stadium 36-10.

The Eels were able to get on the board first, with Mitch Moses putting in a crossfield kick that couldn't be handled by Schoupp. Ryan Matterson stripped the ball and dived over to make it 4-0 after the bunker had finished checking it. Moses converted and it looked as though it may all be one way traffic. 

That wasn't the case however, with the Bulldogs digging in over the next 20 minutes to make it an arm wrestle, made easier through some silly errors made by the Eels. 

They were able to get themselves on the board through some hard nosed attack that built pressure, culminating in a bomb that Clint Gutherson was unable to handle and Dylan Napa was the beneficiary. He scooped up the loose ball to score his first try since Round 3, 2019. 

Mistakes in back to back sets from the Eels gave the Dogs prime opportunity to hit the lead before the break, and the did exactly that. Marata Niukore made high contact and was sent to the bin, and after forcing consecutive dropouts, Canterbury were able to capitalise on the one man advantage. Brandon Wakeham threw a nice cutout pass to Tuipulotu Katoa, who dived for the in goal and at half time, they were up 10-6. 

Initially, the Bulldogs appeared to bring the same intensity to the second half, however it all began unravelling in the 46th minute. They had to kick from deep inside their own half, and Jake Averillo's pass canonned into Napa, who knocked on and didn't dive on the loose ball. That allowed Moses to toe it ahead into the in goal, and he was held back illegally by Brandon Wakeham.

It was the view of the officials in the bunker that Moses would've scored the try had he not been illegally held back, a penalty try was awarded and the Eels hit the lead after the conversion went over. 

The signs were ominous for the Doggies when Shaun Lane went right through a hole shortly after and was able to show and go his way past Nick Meaney and score the Eels third try. 

Throughout the first 15 minutes of the second half, the Eels had 82% possession, and it didn't get any easier for the Blue and White's when Luke Thompson was sin binned in the 56th minute. It took the Eels around 8 minutes, but they also took advantage of the extra man, with Junior Paulo laying it on a platter for Reagan Campbell-Gillard, who scored his 4th try of the year. 

At 26-10 with ten minutes to go, the Bulldogs were well and truly done, and Clint Gutherson was able to add insult to injury by laying on two tries for Sean Russell, making it a debut to remember for the 19-year old. 

Next round, the Eels face a challenge in Penrith on the Friday night, while the Dogs will host Manly the next afternoon.