The Eels have dominated the Raiders to take a 40-4 victory and progress through to a preliminary final against the Cowboys next week at Queensland Country Bank Stadium.
It was not only the Canberrans’ worst defeat of the season, but their biggest ever finals defeat.
Parramatta young gun Will Penisini opened the scoring after a horror error from Jordan Rapana handed his rivals the ball in strong field position.
But young gun Xavier Savage had to best his teammate with an “ugly moment” of his own.
What seemed like a nothing play turned into a four-pointer for Tom Opacic after the ball bounced through Savage’s legs.
“When he didn’t make a play at the ball I thought he was in trouble here, split his legs… huge moment in this game,” Fox League’s Greg Alexander said.
“It was an awful bounce but Opacic just chased and chased,” Fox League’s Shane Flanagan said.
“This is an ugly moment for him (Savage),” Fox League’s Andrew Voss said.
Moments later, a bullet Mitchell Moses pass found winger Waqa Blake who scored a simple try.
The Eels continued their red-hot try-scoring form with a simple effort from Junior Paulo who ran through a gap as big as the “Sydney Harbour Bridge”.
“Paulo just runs through the Sydney Harbour Bridge… they were shot to bits there Canberra,” Alexander said.
“They dragged them all in around the line there, it is a demolition here from the Eels.”
While Savage was clearly disappointed with his error early in the contest, he bounced back in a big way to “light up CommBank Stadium”.
The young gun showcased his speed to slice through the line and score from 70 metres out.
“Not just a try of skill, not just a try of speed, but a try of great character as well,” Voss said.
“Xavier Savage, young star lights up CommBank.”
From then on Parramatta dominated, and tries to Mitch Moses and a Marata Niukore double handed the Eels a huge victory in front of their home fans.
Moses left the field for a HIA in a moment that left Eels fans with their hearts in their throats but passed and returned to the field.
Source: Fox News