EELS DEFEAT SEA EAGLES 34-4

The Eels made light work of the Sea Eagles in a 34-4 victory on Saturday night to pick up their fourth win in a row and continue their mid-season resurgence. As the club celebrated the 40-year anniversary of their 1983 Grand Final win over Manly, the current day Eels produced a dominant first half showing which saw them run in four tries, all of which were converted by Clint Gutherson, to establish a 24-4 lead. Brad Arthur's men owned possession of the ball for most of the match and in the end Manly had just 37 percent of the Steeden, which equated to 12 fewer sets than the Eels and forced them to make 120 extra tackles.

The scoreline made ugly viewing for Manly as it was and it could have been much worse, with the Eels having a number of other try claims ruled out by the Bunker. Signs of what was to come were there from the start, and what appeared to be a dodged bullet on nine minutes for Manly turned out to be the start of their downfall. After Parramatta were unsuccessful in their efforts to score, fullback Kaeo Weekes was found to have committed a professional foul in the lead up, and in the five minutes following his sin-binning the Eels scored twice to establish a 12-0 lead, with Ofahiki Ogden crashing over before Bailey Simonsson crossed.

Once back to 13 players the Sea Eagles responded with a try down the left edge for Christian Tuipulotu, but ideas of a comeback were quickly thwarted by strikes from Gutherson and Hopgood. After a long break in the scoring in the second half – during which time they had possible tries for Sean Russell and Maika Sivo ruled out by the Bunker – Simonsson got his second on 61 minutes. Sivo was again denied, along with Ogden being held up in his attempt to grab a double, before Sivo turned provider with a delicate chip kick to hand Makahesi Makatoa his first try in the NRL and cap off a comprehensive victory. Source: NRL.Com