Parramatta Eels vs Canberra Raiders: NRL live scores, blog

I know what the Darwin heat is like Chris I lived there for four years - it can really zap you. In hindsight they should have gone up earlier and taken a few days to acclimatise rather than going to Bali after the game.

That was a 'strange' match Geoff. I thought your boys looked so good that I would have bet the house on a Raider's victory......up until the 36th minute. I do think the weather was a contributing factor as, to me, they just hit a wall. Wouldn't be too concerned about that match TBH and, by the looks of it, they've got a fairly decent run coming up against very 'beatable' teams.

Well your killing me this week mate. So far I have only got the Storm and the Seagulls correct. I jumped off the Knights to the Broncos prior to kick-off on a whim looking for an upset. It was an upset alright. Just not the kind I expected. Schoolboy errors have been plaguing Souths lately as well. That needs to stop before our next game or I'll never hear the end if it.

Yep - Ricky didn't hold back - said the last 50 minutes was the worst for many years after a great opening 30. And the performance was basically cr%p. Must admit I was a bit worried how the Raiders would handle the heat and humidity of Darwin after coming out of mid Winter - plus a 13 hours plane trip didn't help. They seemed to just melt in the second half and turned over far too much ball. Wighton was the biggest culprit with 5 errors with a match losing effort. The ball was popping out like a cake of soap. Humidity was about 75% at 7.30 pm. Same for both teams of course. Maybe they should have gone up a few days earlier. Read somewhere that the Raiders are heading over to Bali for a few days given they have a bye next weekend. Not sure they deserve it after that effort. Thought CNK was great again and special mention to Simonsson who has really entrenched himself in the side.

...and 'YES' I expect the Dogs to get over the Sharks! (...damn you again blind faith) :)

Strange stuff PS - The Raiders were up 16 -0 for 37 minutes (doing it easy) then the Eels scored 2 converted tries in three minutes making it 16 - 12 at half time. The Eels then scored 10 more unanswered points in the second half to win 22 - 16....so the Eels scored 22 - 0 from the 37th minute of the first half to the end of game. That three minutes in the first half tore the Raiders apart and they just didn't recover - it was remarkable...they made schoolboy errors. (Well that makes me 5/6 - the only loss being your Bunnies!! ) :)

Is there any club football in Sydney this weekend. None last weekend. 1 this weekend and a bye round next weekend. No wonder the crowds in Sydney are terrible. There's no matches to go to.

The pressa was EPIC

Disappointing from the Raiders but unless they play the rest of their season in Darwin I’m not too worried about this result. They didn’t handled the conditions at all well - they came out too hard and too fast at the start of the game and looked exhausted in the second half. Canberra’s a bone-dry climate and if you spend a lot of time there it can be difficult to adjust to the humidity of northern Australia (even during the dry season), and as a few people predicted during the week the English players in particular looked like they struggled. Bateman was a long way below his best. The Raiders’ fitness has been really good this season and this is the first game I’ve seen them looking lethargic. I don’t think a team suddenly loses fitness in a fortnight - they just ran into a Parramatta team who looked really good when they clicked (and who got great service from their bench), in conditions that just weren’t anything like what they’re used to. Speaking from experience as a Canberra boy who’s been to northern Australia a couple of times recently, the climate up there really takes it out of you if you’re not accustomed to humidity. Worth noting also that the Raiders were without Rapana for a chunk of the first half, and he does a huge amount of the hard work rucking the ball out of the Raiders’ own half - work which the forwards had to do instead, draining more energy from them. Credit though to the Eels for recovering really well and then playing a great second half. I’m glad people in Darwin got to see a great game of rugby league!

The knock on from gutho for the second try the difference....but second half belonged to the eels. Shocking from Canberra and mainly Wighton

What happened? I stopped watching at halftime, convinced the Raiders had wrapped up 2nd place on the ladder. So after 15 rounds and 4 straight losses for Souths the Rabbitohs are STILL 2nd on the ladder. Who'da thought it? ;-)

Pathetic by the Raiders. Absolutely trash-tier in the 2nd half. Got what they deserved. Congrats to the Eels. If only the Raiders showed a tenth of their heart.

The press conference will be EPIC

Unbelievable stuff.....the last 3 minutes of the first half killed the Raiders.

Not even a top 16 team based on the last 45 mins.

Didn’t see first half; watched second half... Canberra are not a top 8 team; nothing in attack