Eels survive Titans comeback as Challenge controversy rages

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Gold Coast Titans v Parramatta Eels

Debate is raging around the Captains Challenge system, as the Parramatta Eels survived a late comeback attempt from the Gold Coast Titans to score a 26-20 victory on the Gold Coast.

Despite the Eels dominating field position for the first quarter of the match, it was a pretty even contest until Parramatta were able to open the scoring just shy of the twenty-minute mark when Mitch Moses set up Clint Gutherson to go through space to score out wide. The conversion was waved away after the kick had a lock on the upright.

The Eels added another try out on the righthand side when Bailey Simonsson was able to get over in the corner after the Eels attack again fired. The Eels then extended their lead just shy of half-time when they got the luck after Jarrod Wallace dropped a Mitch Moses kick and Clint Gutherson was on the spot to ground the ball. After the conversion from in front the Eels held a 14-0 lead at the break.

Things didn't start well in the second half for the Titans when Parramatta were able to score again through Ryan Matterson after a long pass from Reed Mahoney put the Gold Coast defence in two minds and Matterson was able to get over, making the Titans pay for an error at the other end of the park.

Controversy then rained when the Titans deliberately gave away a penalty so that they could challenge a potential knock-on by the Eels which was missed by Peter Gough. The challenge was allowed to proceed despite the NRL coming out on Monday saying you couldn't challenge a play on call. The decision to allow the challenge gave the Titans the ball and they took advantage when AJ Brimson put a kick through that was chased through by Phillip Sami to score.

So Parramatta fans had every right to be annoyed when the same situation happened again, this time when the Titans deliberately gave away a penalty to challenge a pull back which was successful. The Gold Coast were again able to take advantage of the situation when another AJ Brimson kick was chased through and Erin Clark scored.

It became game on a matter of minutes later after Junior Paulo was sin binned and David Fifita single handedly brought the Titans back into it with a 40m run out of dummy half to get the ball down just inside the touch line.

The Eels then stopped the momentum when Dylan Brown took advantage of a loose ball off a kick contest to score and settle things down for the Eels and push the lead back out to 10 points.

The game was far from over when the Titans were able to score again when Greg Marzhew used his brute strength and power to get over from dummy half. The missed conversion kept the scores at the final score of 26-20.

Next weekend, the Eels have their traditional Easter Monday clash against the Tigers whilst the Titans head to Northern Beaches of Sydney to take on the Sea Eagles at Brookvale.