Eels see off Bulldogs 26-10
A resurgent Parramatta scored their third successive NRL victory with a 26-10 triumph over Canterbury in a high-octane western Sydney derby at ANZ Stadium.
The Eels ran in five tries, in their best performance of the season, against a Bulldogs side missing star forward Ben Hannant and the in-form Brett Morris through injury.
Jarryd Hayne was instrumental for the Eels, scoring the match-sealing try in the 66th minute after a 45-metre run, as his side showed glimpses of the form that took them to last year's grand final.
Krisnan Inu, Luke Burt, Joel Reddy and Kris Keating also went over for the Eels.
Jamal Idris, who enjoyed a titanic battle with Timana Tahu in the centres and debutant Junior Tia-Kalifi crossed for the Bulldogs.
Tries from Inu and Burt gave the Eels an 8-0 lead at halftime after the home side had been on the back foot for the most of the opening exchanges.
However, some determined defence from Daniel Anderson's side repelled the Bulldogs, who also let themselves down with some poor handling when in good scoring positions.
A magnificent 40-20 in the 12th minute from Michael Ennis was greeted with a huge roar from the Bulldogs supporters, but Kevin Moore's side failed to take advantage when Jarrad Hickey spilt the ball on the second tackle five metres from the Parramatta line.
That reprieve galvanised the Eels with Inu opening the scoring in fine style in the 19th minute after acrobatically outjumping Tia-Kalifi in the right corner.
After enjoying a sustained spell of pressure it was no surprise when the Eels did score again through some brilliance from the wily Burt, who latched onto his own grubber to touch down unopposed in the 27th minute.
Parramatta extended their lead three minutes after the restart when Reddy rolled over in the right corner, with Hayne heavily involved as the ball went through several pairs of hands.
The try came about in contentious circumstances after Steve Turner was adjudged to have dropped a high ball when it looked as if he had been tackled in the air.
But six minutes later the Bulldogs were back in the game with a try out of nothing from Idris.
It came about largely through the tenacity of Michael Ennis who dived full-length to charge down a Hayne kick and Idris reacted quickest to outpace Daniel Mortimer to the loose ball and score.
However, Hayne put the game out of the Bulldogs' reach in the 65th minute, when he latched onto a Keating offload and race to the line late on, before Keating raced over in the dying seconds to add some gloss to the scoreline.
A high shot from Fuifui Moimoi on former Eel Blake Green midway through the second period was the only blemish on a good night for Anderson's men.
Anderson credited his side's defence for securing the win, but said he was delighted with the performance of Hayne, who scored his first try since the opening round of the last year's finals against St George Illawarra.
"At North Queensland last week he produced a very professional performance," Anderson said.
"And again tonight I thought he diffused kicks well and did a lot of donkey work and when he got into his sprint mode there ... he smoked everyone and that was pleasing for him to get his first try."
Anderson said the main reason for the NSW's star's subdued start to the season was down to teams doing more to prevent him from producing the brilliance of last season. "They are putting numbers on him but he is finding ways to come into the game but he is working for his teammates doing tough, hard work and stuff that isn't pleasing on the eye," he said.
Bulldogs coach Kevin Moore said he was pleased with the efforts of his injury-hit outfit but conceded the failure to score early when Parramatta were on the back foot cost his side.
"I thought we showed a lot of spirit, and in the simple parts of the game we were in it, but our execution let us down," he said.
"With better execution you probably got in there at halftime with the game locked up, but they scored first and skipped away with the game."
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