Eels Upset Bulldogs to Keep Finals Dream Alive

SYDNEY—Parramatta have continued their late season surge with an upset NRL win over the Bulldogs at ANZ Stadium on Saturday.

The Eels, despite making far more tackles than the Bulldogs, ran out 27-8 victors in front of 31,664 fans with a brilliant display against the competition's second-placed team.

The five-tries-to-two victory keeps the Eels' slim finals hopes alive while ending the Bulldogs' perfect record at home this season and denting their hopes of a minor premiership.

Parramatta begun brightly and jumped out to a 10-0 lead after wingers Luke Burt and Eric Grothe scored inside the first 15 minutes.

Burt smartly retrieved a grubber from young Eels' five-eighth Daniel Mortimer while Grothe's try came after in-form fullback Jarryd Hayne had run nearly the length of the field in an electric break.

But the Bulldogs struck back in the 26th minute through teen sensation Jamal Idris and reduced the margin to two seven minutes later when a clever Ben Roberts' grubber gave Bryson Goodwin the easiest of opportunities with Grothe and Joel Reddy caught in-field.

After repelling a Bulldogs' charge in the opening minutes of the second half, the Eels had Hayne to thank again when Grothe scored his second of the night in the 48th minute.

The fleet-footed NSW star had opened up the Bulldogs defence with a run through the middle, giving Grothe the chance to muscle over in the corner from the next play.

And the lead was extended to 12 just six minutes later when Kevin Kingston ran past Roberts from dummy-half to dive over.

The Eels were then almost camped on their goal line for the next ten minutes as the Bulldogs aimed to get back into the match.

But Parramatta held firm and a field goal by Burt with 12 minutes to go, and a deserved try to rampaging prop Fuifui Moimoi in the 75th minute, sealed the win.

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MELBOURNE—Melbourne overpowered an undermanned Cronulla reeling from injuries including a heavy concussion to Trent Barrett for a 30-10 win in their NRL clash at Olympic Park on Saturday night.

The Storm overcame the loss of three star players including Greg Inglis prior to kick-off to grind out the victory, leaving their best until the final 20 minutes before seeing off the stubborn Sharks.

But the Sharks' job was made near impossible after losing four players during the match for varying stints because of injury, including play-maker Barrett when accidentally struck in the head by Storm prop Brett White's hip during a second half tackle.

Barrett was heavily dazed and fell over unprompted soon after, but following a stint on the sidelines bravely played out the match.

"Very crook," was Cronulla coach Ricky Stuart's assessment of his NSW Origin star following the match.

"Trent being Trent, he's a tough guy and he wouldn't come off the field. It's a big effort on his part."

Sharks centre Matt Wright sustained a possible neck or back injury when hit in a first half tackle from Storm prop Jeff Lima, which was put on report by the referees.

Wright was left prone on the ground for several minutes after the tackle by Lima and Melbourne skipper Cameron Smith.

While Wright got up and walked off the field under his own steam, he did not play any further part in the match.

Also injured for the Sharks were reserve Johnny Mannah (back) early in the game, and prop Kane Snowden, who was sidelined for much of the match with an arm injury before returning to action the second half.

Despite the scores being deadlocked at 6-6 early in the second half, the Sharks' truncated interchange eventually took its toll.

Four second half tries in 10 minutes broke the match open for the Storm, to keep Melbourne in the top four and leave the Sharks at wooden spoon peril.

Inglis was a late withdrawals from the Melbourne side because of a groin problem.

Back-rowers Ryan Hoffman (hamstring) and Dallas Johnson (shoulder) had also been ruled out after failing to recover from injuries sustained against Parramatta on Monday.

But the Storm still took a slender advantage to the break, thanks to the sole try of the half to late replacement Brett Anderson in the 15th minute.

Anderson ran on to a neat one-handed pass from fullback Billy Slater to register the only points of an error-strewn opening 40 minutes.

A Smith penalty helped the Storm move to a 6-0 lead early in the second half, before the Sharks squared things up with a converted try to winger Luke Covell on 54 minutes.

But tries in quick succession to Melbourne's Joseph Tomane, Ryan Hinchcliffe, Anderson's second and centre Will Chambers put the match beyond doubt.

Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy said he was pleased with the result coming after the club's heavy workload during the State of Origin series, a hard NRL game the previous Monday night and the pre-match disruption.

"You lose those important players -- Johnson and Inglis and Hoffman -- it takes a lot out of your side," Bellamy said.

"I would have liked to play that last 20 minutes a little bit earlier in the game, but I thought our defence really held us in the game and it was the reason we probably ended up winning the game."

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CANBERRA—Wests Tigers extended their late season charge toward the NRL top eight by demolishing Canberra 25-4 at Canberra Stadium, ending the Raiders' slim finals hopes.

The Tigers moved to tenth spot and just two points behind eighth-placed North Queensland with their third consecutive win, and they have the advantage of a good run home with three of their next four games against teams outside the top eight.

The Raiders, 14th on the NRL ladder, needed to beat the Tigers and win their remaining six matches to be in with any chance of making the top eight.

The Tigers bombarded Canberra in the first half and opened the scoring in the 12th minute with a try to Tigers halfback Tim Moltzen.

Canberra, who failed to take advantage of the bitterly cold and wet home conditions, had their first chance to level the scores in the 16th minute when fullback Josh Dugan crossed for the Raiders.

But video referee Phil Cooley denied the try, ruling Raiders second rower Bronson Harrison had obstructed Tigers back-rower Gareth Ellis, a ruling that was met with harsh criticism from the hometown crowd.

Moltzen clocked up a second try in the 26th minute when he ran 75 metres to score under the posts and John Morris made it three tries to nil when he scored in the 33rd minute.

Tigers skipper Robbie Farah kicked a surprise field goal just before the halftime siren to give his team a 19-0 lead at the break.

The visitors kept control of the match in the second half with winger Taniela Tuiaki scoring in the 48th minute and five-eighth Benji Marshall converting from the sideline for a 25-0 lead.

Canberra finally put itself on the scoreboard in the 62nd minute with try to winger Daniel Vidot.

It was an expensive try for the Tigers, with veteran John Skandalis placed on report for a late tackle on Raiders five-eighth Terry Campese, who had kicked the ball in goal for the try.

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GOLD COAST 34 (K Gordon A Harrison M Henderson M Minichiello S Prince E Tonga tries S Prince 5 goals) bt BRISBANE 18 (A Winterstein 2 D Copley tries C Parker 2 A Gorrell goals) at Skilled Park. Referee: Jared Maxwell, Bernard Sutton. Crowd: 26,336.

MANLY 44 (B Farrar 2 T Williams 2 M Ballin K Foran G Rose A Watmough tries M Orford 6 goals) bt NEWCASTLE 20 (R Fa'aoso S McDonnell M Taufua tries S Dureau 3 W Naiqama goals) at Bluetongue Stadium. Referee: Tony Archer, Jason Robinson. Crowd: 15,857.

PARRAMATTA 27 (E Grothe 2 L Burt K Kingston F Moimoi tries L Burt 3 goals L Burt field goal) bt BULLDOGS 8 (B Goodwin J Idris tries) at ANZ Stadium. Referee: Steve Lyons, Alan Shortall.

PENRITH 28 (M Jennings 3 M Gordon J Sammut tries M Gordon 4 goals) bt NORTH QUEENSLAND 20 (J Thurston W Tonga C Webb J Williams tries J Thurston 2 goals) at Dairy Farmers Stadium. Referee: Matt Cecchin, Shayne Hayne. Crowd: 14,274.

MELBOURNE 30 (B Anderson 2 W Chambers R Hinchcliffe C Smith J Tomane tries C Smith 2 J Tomane goals) bt CRONULLA 10 (L Covell B Ferguson tries L Covell goal) at Olympic Park. Referee: Ben Cummins, Brett Suttor. Crowd: 10,533.

WESTS TIGERS 25 (T Moltzen 2 J Morris T Tuiaki tries B Marshall 4 goals R Farah field goal) bt CANBERRA 4 (D Vidot try) at Canberra Stadium. Referee: Tony Archer, Phil Haines. Crowd: 11,150.

ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA 29 (B Morris 2 D Boyd J Soward C Stanley tries J Soward 4 goals J Soward field goal) bt NZ WARRIORS 4 (J Moon try) at Mt Smart Stadium. Referee: Gavin Badger, Ashley Klein. Crowd: 13,507.

NRL Ladder P W D L B PF PA PD Pts
1 St George Illawarra 18 14 0 4 2 440 234 206 32
2 +Bulldogs 18 13 0 5 2 424 320 104 28
3 Gold Coast 18 12 0 6 2 384 337 47 28
4 Melbourne 18 11 1 6 2 375 264 111 27
5 Manly 18 10 0 8 2 389 356 33 24
6 Penrith 18 10 0 8 2 407 381 26 24
7 Newcastle 18 10 0 8 2 375 351 24 24
8 North Queensland 18 9 0 9 2 436 350 86 22
9 Brisbane 18 9 0 9 2 373 454 -81 22
10 Wests Tigers 18 8 0 10 2 390 371 19 20
11 *South Sydney 17 7 1 9 2 381 389 -8 19
12 Parramatta 18 7 1 10 2 292 400 -108 19
13 NZ Warriors 18 6 1 11 2 277 373 -96 17
14 Canberra 18 6 0 12 2 329 415 -86 16
15 Cronulla 18 5 0 13 2 289 388 -99 14
16 *Sydney Roosters 17 4 0 13 2 286 464 -178 12
*(denotes teams yet to play)
+ Bulldogs deducted 2 points for fielding ineligible player.

Top point scorers (tries, goals, field goals, points):
Jamie Soward (StGeo Illa) 10 70 4 184
Hazem El Masri (Bulldogs) 10 64 -- 168
Johnathan Thurston (North Qld) 7 64 -- 156
Scott Prince (Gold Coast) 4 51 -- 118
Benji Marshall (Tigers) 3 48 -- 108
Luke Covell (Cronulla) 6 40 -- 104
Corey Parker (Brisbane) 3 43 -- 98
Kurt Gidley (Newcastle) 1 47 -- 98
Luke Burt (Parramatta) 6 36 2 98
Michael Gordon (Penrith) 2 39 -- 86

Top try scorers:
Brett Morris (StGeo Illa) 17
Taniela Tuiaki (Tigers) 16
Bryson Goodwin (Bulldogs) 15
Michael Jennings (Penrith) 14
Nathan Merritt (Souths) 13
Josh Morris (Bulldogs) 13
Israel Folau (Brisbane) 12
Antonio Winterstein (Brisbane) 12
Wendell Sailor (StGeo Illa) 11
Tim Moltzen (Tigers) 10
Fetuli Talanoa (Souths) 10
Jamie Soward (StGeo Illa) 10
Jarryd Hayne (Parramatta) 10
Matthew Bowen (North Qld) 10
Hazem El Masri (Bulldogs) 10