Raiders too strong for Eels26 June 2011, 4:16 amThe Canberra Raiders have put in a complete 80-minute performance to beat the Parramatta Eels 25-12 in their Round 16 clash at Canberra Stadium on Saturday.
The Raiders completed their sets and had a mountain of possession, with the young halves pairing of Sam Williams and Josh McCrone providing a spark in attack.
The Eels in comparison had a forgettable night, missing tackles and making crucial handling errors.
They still showed fight in the second half to claw their way back into the game, but the Raiders found another gear when it mattered.
The Raiders dominated early but missed an early chance when late inclusion Joel Thompson was ruled to have lost the ball attempting to score.
After failing to convert early opportunities the Raiders had their chance after being gifted consecutive penalties on their line.
It was Williams who provided the answer, dancing his way through loose Eels defence to score the opener.
Minutes later McCrone stepped up to the plate, running 25 metres off the back of a scrum to score.
A Jarrod Croker penalty with eight minutes left capped off a near perfect half for the Raiders, while the Eels' half was summed up when they failed to find touch from a penalty.
The Raiders have a history of letting first half leads slip and it looked that way when poor marking gifted Matt Keating an early try under the posts.
The Raiders hit back when Josh McCrone made another crucial break and found Nathan Massey on his outside and he sprinted to score out wide.
The Eels got right back in the game when they spread it wide to Ben Smith, who cut back inside once over the line to give Luke Burt and easy conversion.
Just when the Eels were looking dangerous, a bomb ended up in the hands of Massey who ran 70 metres and passed to Reece Robinson who ran in another.
From that set McCrone slotted a bizarre field goal, which only went in off the back of Casey McGuire's head.
Williams again stepped up, this time for the match winner. He charged down a Jarryd Hayne kick, toed the ball ahead twice and dove over.
Raiders 25
Tries: Williams 2, McCrone, Massey
Goals: Croker 4/5
Field goal: McCrone
Eels 12
Tries: Keating, Smith
Goals: Burt 2/2
Crowd: 13,457 at Canberra Stadium
- Sportal
Source: 3News
Topic: Raiders too strong for Eels
