Dragons 34 Eels 20
PERTH - St George Illawarra held off a spirited fightback from Parramatta to post an entertaining 34-20 victory in their NRL trial match in Perth last night.
The Dragons raced out to a 16-0 lead inside 35 minutes but the Eels ran in four of the next five tries to close the gap to just two points with 13 minutes remaining.
But with the game on the line St George lifted another gear, with tries to hooker Nathan Fien and Michael Lett in the dying stages securing the six-tries-to-four win in front of 9,450 fans.
Both sides fielded a mix of first-graders and up-and-comers, with last year's Dally M Medal winner Jarryd Hayne, Nathan Hindmarsh, Fuifui Moimoi and Justin Poore missing for the Eels and Jamie Soward, Matt Cooper, Brett Morris and the suspended Beau Scott among a host of players not featuring for the Dragons.
St George were on the back foot for much of the opening 15 minutes but against the run of play last year's minor premiers struck first, with a dangerous bomb from Fien finding a running Jason Nightingale five metres from the line.
Nightingale couldn't handle the ball but Nick Emmett ran on to the spillage to open the scoring.
A neat inside pass from hooker Luke Priddis to front rower Ricky Thorby opened up the Eels' defence for the second try of the night, with Bronx Goodwin's conversion making it 10-0 after 30 minutes.
Parramatta were struggling to stem the tide and Nightingale made it 16-0 five minutes before halftime when he shook off three Eels tacklers in a 30m sprint to the line.
The Eels were lucky not to be further in arrears with Goodwin fumbling a pass with the line in sight before Lett's try was disallowed due to a forward pass.
Parramatta made the most of their double hit of good fortune, scoring on the stroke of halftime when a neat grubber kick from Kris Keating put Robson over, making it 16-4 at the break.
Eels winger Etu Uaisele closed the gap to 16-8 early in the second half and although a Jake Marketo try extended the buffer out to 22-8, Parramatta were clearly on the charge.
Their dominance of possession paid off just a minute before three-quarter time, with Kris Keating and run-on captain Feleti Mateo exchanging passes to expose the Dragons' defence.
But despite closing the gap to two points the Eels couldn't land the killer blow, with the Dragons racing in two late tries to secure victory.
St George Illawarra 34 (N Emmett, J Nightingale, R Thorby, J Marketo, M Lett, N Fien tries; B Goodwin 5 cons) bt Parramatta 20 (J Robson 2, E Uaisele, K Keating tries; T Humble, D Mortimer conversions) at ME Bank Stadium, Perth.
- AAP
