Rookie half gets Eels home in NRL
Rookie Parramatta halfback Tim Smith produced another magical performance to inspire the Eels to a 34-6 NRL win over Cronulla at Toyota Park.
Smith laid on two tries and had a hand in several others, but the Eels may have paid a high price for their third straight win with injuries to PJ Marsh, Timana Tahu and Daniel Wagon taking some gloss off the result.
Tahu suffered a dislocated elbow while Wagon and Marsh were taken to hospital after the game for precautionary scans after suffering head knocks. Marsh, who missed the best part of two years of football with a neck injury, was cleared of any neck damage after copping a knee to the head from Sharks prop Jason Stevens. The Sharks front rower was placed on report over the incident for leading with his knee.
Running with the aid of a strong breeze, the Eels jumped out of the gates early to open up a 22-0 lead at the break, before holding off a second half comeback to run out comfortable six-tries-to-five winners.
Eels coach Brian Smith was ecstatic with win, which lifted the Eels into a share of third spot on the ladder.
"I thought the first half was so dominant and controlled. We played some good football, sensible football and very much a powerful defensive display," Smith said after the game.
"For a team that's just won four games on the road ... I thought that was an emphatic performance.
"A really really good effort all up, I'm not that this was not our best performance for the season."
A pin-point cross-field kick from Tim Smith led to Eric Grothe's first try of the night after 10 minutes and further tries to Matt Petersen and Ben Smith, who brushed off an ineffective tackle by opposite Phil Bailey, made it 16-0 after only 19 minutes.
The Sharks finally got some possession in the opposition half, but any chance they had of opening their account was ruined by a series of handling errors, which Cronulla coach Stuart Raper said cost his side dearly.
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