The Eels beat the Warriors in Auckland on Friday night. Photo / Photosport
Warriors 22
Eels 26
How do you begin to explain a match like this?
The Warriors lost this game on multiple occasions, looked like they had stolen it with an outrageous comeback, only to have it torn away with a controversial bunker decision.
The end result was a 26-22 loss to the Parramatta Eels on Friday night, which has all but ended their hopes of a top-four finish.
There will be debate for days about the final minutes, with an Adam Pompey try scratched when the bunker found a knock on from Demetric Vaimauga, which didn’t seem immediately apparent upon multiple replays.
Vaimauga later told Sky Sport the ball had clipped his fingertips but he felt it had gone backwards, as did most of the 25,012 crowd watching, with no conclusive proof it had been propelled forward.
That moment would have capped quite the finish, as the Warriors had found themselves 20-4 down with less than half an hour to play.
But it wasn’t to be and when the dust settles, the home side will only have themselves to blame.
With everything set up for a big night – a full house, old boys’ day and so much to play for – the Warriors simply failed to fire. They conceded some soft tries and were blighted by constant errors.
They were getting momentum with aggressive, strong defence and giving it up with their attack, as they continued their hot and cold form on home soil.
Eels halfback Mitch Moses produced a superb kicking game and Parramatta took their chances well. For the Warriors, too many individuals failed to fire, with Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and Adam Pompey the best of the backs and Leka Halasima managing some individual brilliance in the forwards.
It means they will have to rely on other results to get back into the top quartet, with Brisbane and the Sharks likely to overtake them.
After an awful afternoon in Auckland, with steady, icy rain, the weather cleared for kickoff. But the good vibes didn’t last long, with an Eels try after three minutes. It was brilliant – but also a shock – as winger Josh Addo-Carr ran from behind his own try line to score. It was sublime stuff from the flyer, who reacted quickest from a bouncing Warriors bomb, though three defenders had chances to stop him.
There was another gift from the home side, as Parramatta managed another long-range break after a Warriors kick, before Jack Williams sauntered through some soft defence to score.
The Warriors needed to respond and came up with the well-worked try to Pompey, with Tanah Boyd digging into the line, Chanel Harris-Tavita tipping on and Pompey showing his trademark strength. They needed more in the first period but it didn’t come. Mitch Moses produced a big stop on Harris-Tavita – with Tuivasa-Sheck open on the wing – and the rest lacked precision. The kicks weren’t quite there, while handling errors and poor options killed them, with the Eels going close to a third sketchy try after a clever Mitch Moses chip but it was scratched for offside.
A brilliant rendition of Bliss, by the Th’ Dudes icon Peter Urlich, got the crowd going at halftime but another poor error after the interval, followed by a soft Eels’ penalty sucked more energy out of the stadium. Parramatta then scored their best try of the night, set up by a sumptuous Mitch Moses short ball and finished by Isaiah Iongi for a 20-4 lead with 30 minutes to play, before Ryley Smith was inches away from killing the game off after hacking through.
The Warriors were finding new ways to stall any momentum, with an awful play the ball from Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad on the Eels’ goal line.
A clean Tuivasa-Sheck break finally provided a spark, with the winger scoring in the same sequence to offer hope, before Halasima came up with another moment only he can manage, soaring like an AFL player to take a Boyd bomb. The ultimate revival was on – and then it wasn’t, as Iongi crossed again minutes later. The break came from a brilliant Junior Paulo offload but Nicoll-Klokstad had a chance to stop his opposite number.
There was more drama, as Halasima got through for his second on the right edge, to close the gap again. Pompey was then over near the posts – after a sharp James Fisher-Harris offload from a Harris-Tavita bomb – but after a long deliberation the bunker ruled a fractional knock on in the contest for the ball, which looked a curious call.
Warriors 22 (Leka Halasima 2, Adam Pompey, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck tries; Tanah Boyd 3 cons)
Parramatta Eels 26 (Isaiah Iongi 2, Josh Addo-Carr, Jack Williams tries; Zac Lomax 4 cons, pen)
HT: 12-4