Roar Guru
The Wests Tigers returned to winning ways last week and will be keen to make it two wins on the trot against rivals Parramatta Eels tonight. Join us for live scores and commentary from 8.00pm AEDT.
After suffering a poor defeat at the hands of Newcastle in round one, the Tigers bounced back well against the Panthers and will fancy their chances of outscoring Parramatta tonight.
Despite dominating possession and territory last week, the Eels struggled to put the Bulldogs to the sword and eventually lost 20-16 in a match where star fullback Jarryd Hayne underperformed.
Hayne was largely obsolete in attack against Canterbury and needs to improve tenfold if the Eels are a chance of beating the Tigers tonight.
It’s a shame that Hayne couldn’t fire last week, given that his attacking partner Chris Sandow actually played very well.
Sandow had a hand in all of the Eels three tries last week, and also kicked a 40/20 in a performance that would have pleased coach Ricky Stuart.
The Tigers will definitely need to keep tabs on Sandow tonight, given that the Eels half did cause a lot of havoc when these two teams last met late in 2012.
Prediction
The outcome of this match largely depends on how well Sandow and Hayne combine in attack tonight for Parramatta.
If both of these players can fire, the Eels should be favoured to open up a Tigers defence that can still crack when placed under pressure.
A repeat of last week’s performance in attack however and the Eels will find themselves on the back foot against a Tigers side that has begun finding its rhythm with the football.
Tigers hooker Robbie Farah was the star of the show against Penrith last week, setting up three tries, two of which were scored by Aaron Woods.
Benji Marshall was also heavily involved against the Panthers, scoring a try before setting up Marikia Koroibete’s match winner in the second half with a delicate grubber.
Playing infront of the Leichhardt faithful generally gets the best out of the Tigers and we may just see them click into gear tonight against an Eels side with plenty of room for improvement in attack.
Tigers by 8.