The Wests Tigers have kept themselves alive and in the hunt to play finals with a 15-point win over the Parramatta Eels.
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Final score
Eels 8
Tigers 23
The Parramatta Eels will look to put the ongoing off-the-field circus behind them when they take on the struggling Wests Tigers who must find a way to build form and consistency if they want to play in the finals. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 5:30pm (AEST).
The Eels season has been dominated by talk and news of what is happening off the field rather than on it, but they haven’t been playing bad football.
Of course, before the salary cap saga broke over their head, they were right up the top end of the table – things haven’t been as good since then, but they are still going alright and certainly aren’t getting blown out.
Not having Corey Norman, who has been suspended, hurts the club in a big way. They might have been beaten heavily by the Gold Coast Titans last week, but close losses to the Penrith Panthers and Sydney Roosters before hand, with Clint Gutherson doing a strong job in the halves goes to show the resolve of the side.
The Tigers come into this match on the back of a win over the St George Illawarra Dragons last week, but right at the moment that doesn’t say a lot. They only scored 25 points, winning by 13 and most good teams probably would have put 50 on the Dragons.
Their form has been up and down all season, and with off-field issues of their own mainly relating to Robbie Farah they will produce either a good performance on the back of Mitchell Moses, James Tedesco and Luke Brooks, or a terrible one on the back of poor defence and no creativity.
Pa
It’s one or the other for the Tigers more often than not.
With their inconsistency, they find themselves in tenth spot on the ladder, having won eight games and needing to win four of their last six to make the finals, making this game almost must win.
In team news, the Tigers will be unchanged from their win over the Dragons last week while the Eels welcome back Beau Scott and Vai Toutai at the expense of Bureta Faraimo and Cody Nelson.
The teams have already met once this year, way back in Round 4 when the Eels took victory 8-0 at Homebush in what has proved to be one of the worst games this season.
Prediction
This is just a ridiculously important game for the Tigers – they might have won last weekend, but they not only need to build some consistency, but keep winning to give themselves a crack at the finals.
The Eels were ordinary last week and will be looking for a similar turnaround, which we know they have in them. If they can string 80 minutes together, then they will get the job done – the Tigers just don’t look threatening.
Eels by 8.
Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of this Round 21 fixture from 5:30pm (AEST) and don’t forget to add your own comments in the section below as the action unfolds.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde
Scott Pryde
Expert
Match Results The Wests Tigers took control early on in Round 21 against the Parramatta Eels at ANZ Stadium and never looked back, recording a well deserved 15-point victory. Tries to David Nofoaluma and Mitchell Moses in the first quarter of an hour sent the Tigers into the lead, and their defence held solid for the entirety of the game to hand them the victory. The Tigers would go onto take nearly every opportunity possible to score points - ending with a trio of penalty goals and a field goal, all to Mitchell Moses who played a blinder of a game. Moses was quite probably the best on ground as he controlled the Tigers attack, added a stack of creativity and stepped up in the second half when his halves partner Luke Brooks went down with a medial ligament strain and couldn't return from the sheds. Moses was well supported by James Tedesco who did his normal thing, making plenty of metres and busting the line, running the ball with excellence, while the forwards led the charge well - Josh Aloiai was a terror on the right edge. The Eels did have to whether an early storm and constant increases in effort from an Eels side who simply refused to go away no matter what happened or what situation the game was in. Daniel Alvaro and Tim Mannah started the game strongly, before Danny Wicks and David Gower continued things off the bench, keeping the Eels in the contest but they struggled for creativity and direction in the halves with Jeff Robson and Clint Gutherson struggling to create anything as they have done in previous weeks. The Eels got on the board first with a penalty goal, before the Tigers opened the try scoring through David Nofoaluma. Following an offload about 30 metres out, Mitchell Moses would go straight through the line before throwing a brilliant pass to the wing for Nofoaluma on his way to ground, crossing in the corner. It was the very next set when the Tigers were able to extend their lead as they made a long range break, Moses putting Aloiai through the line with an inside ball before Tedesco finished it off next to the uprights. The Tigers would then miss a penalty goal and convert another to take the lead out to two converted tries. Parramatta would capitalise on some errors at the back end of the first half from the Tigers though as Vai Toutai crossed. The Tigers had far too many players around the play the ball and a couple of good decoy runs allowed Jeff Robson and Clint Gutherson to put Toutai over in the corner. The second half was a relatively bland affair, with the Eels not scoring a point and the Tigers just a single try to go with a couple of penalty goals and a field goal. The game seemed to get sloppy, with neither team executing plays on offence although credit must go to the defence of both teams for shutting down plenty of plays. Mitchell Moses continued to control things for the Tigers and it would be the 64th minute before he put over the first penalty goal, taking the lead to eight and just six minutes later for the second penalty goal. The Tigers would roll back down field with ease though, and saw Sauaso Sue cross next to the goal posts with a barge over effort. Moses would finish things off with a field goal just a couple of minutes from times with errors from both teams ruining the back end of the game. All in all though, an impressive performance from the Tigers and one they will have to replicate every week from here on out if they want to feature in September. Final score Parramatta Eels 8 Wests Tigers 23
Scott Pryde
Expert
Cheers mate! See you tomorrow!
Alex L
Roar Rookie
Good call mate!
Scott Pryde
Expert
Deserved win yes, still plenty of work to do though. Brooks is a key, they need him on the field. Pleasure mate - thanks.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Full report to follow. Thanks for joining me this evening on The Roar for our live coverage of the 2016 NRL season as the Wests Tigers grabbed a solid victory over the Parramatta Eels at ANZ Stadium. Hopefully you enjoyed the coverage. Flick over now to catch live coverage of the North Queensland Cowboys and Melbourne Storm with John Coomer - http://www.theroar.com.au/2016/07/30/north-queensland-cowboys-vs-melbourne-storm-nrl-live-scores-blog-4/ I'll be on from 2pm (AEST) tomorrow with live coverage of the South Sydney Rabbitohs vs Canberra Raiders. Bye for now.
PNG Broncos fan88
Guest
I guess with the penalty goals, Tigers are trying to be more patient with their games now. Deserved win, hope Brooks is not too bad as the battle for the 8 is just warming up. Good call Scott....cheers
Scott Pryde
Expert
The Roar's NRL MVP 3 - Mitchell Moses 2 - Josh Aloiai 1 - James Tedesco
Scott Pryde
Expert
STATS Tries: Eels (1), Tigers (3) Goals: Eels (1/1), Tigers (2/3) Penalty Goals: Eels (1/1), Tigers (3/4) Field Goals: Eels (0), Tigers (1/1) Possession: Eels (45%), Tigers (55%) Completions: Eels (27/36), Tigers (30/37) All runs: Eels (147), Tigers (173) All run metres: Eels (1338), Tigers (1614) Line breaks: Eels (3), Tigers (6) Offloads: Eels (6), Tigers (7) Tackles: Eels (333), Tigers (312) Missed tackles: Eels (19), Tigers (18) Penalties: Eels (9), Tigers (10) Errors: Eels (13), Tigers (8)
Alex L
Roar Rookie
Very puzzled as to why the Tigers aren't using Cherrington as a reserve dummy half instead of the current "bring Rankin in from the wing" arrangement.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Stats, MVP and full report to come. Thoughts Roarers?
Scott Pryde
Expert
Absolutely - working all the way to the end will please Tigers fans there.
Scott Pryde
Expert
FULLTIME The drop out goes about 40 metres and Mannah brings it back. They go left through Edwards before Pritchard is taken 15 metres out. Now they come right with a floating ball, it ends on the ground, French comes up with it and Takairangi who kicks and Moses comes up with it, going to ground. That will do us. Great win for the Tigers here! Parramatta Eels 8 Wests Tigers 23
Cadfael
Roar Guru
They can't be beaten but it is great to see the Tigers defence not wanting to give away points.
Scott Pryde
Expert
79' - Right go the Eels from the scrum and French passes to himself before being tackled. Gower goes left and passes to Mannah who offloads straight back to Gower and he is taken a metre out. Now they come right and Takairangi with a grubber ahead that forced a drop out. Eels 8 Tigers 23
Scott Pryde
Expert
78' - Sue brings it back from the kick off and looks to offload with the ball going to ground. Mannah chases it hard, the ball has gone ahead with a deflection off the chasing players and we come back for a scrum to the Eels as the ball goes dead. Eels 8 Tigers 23
Scott Pryde
Expert
78' - FIELD GOAL TIGERS, MITCHELL MOSES The Tigers still have 2 plays up their sleeve and they go straight back to Moses who, under no pressure slots a field goal. Eels 8 Tigers 23
Scott Pryde
Expert
78' - The Tigers start this set 35 metres and bring it forward through Edwards and Woods. Inside 10 before Edwards goes to Grant with a short ball and he is claiming a try as well next to the uprights. He looks as excited as Sue did but we will go up to the bunker with a call of no try. No evidence either way and it will remain a no try. Eels 8 Tigers 22
Scott Pryde
Expert
76' - Sue comes back from the kick-off and this one will just wind down now. They work it through the forwards and here is a penalty as Joel Edwards is taken out without the ball. Eels 8 Tigers 22
Scott Pryde
Expert
CONVERSION MISSED by MITCHELL MOSES Eels 8 Tigers 22
Scott Pryde
Expert
Yeah fair enough - didn't think of that.