In one of their best attacking performance in years, the Canberra Raiders have thrashed the Parramatta Eels 41-8 at GIO Stadium.
The Raiders outside backs were able to do what they liked for much of the night, with wingers Xavier Savage, James Schiller and the recently re-signed Matt Timoko handing in sensational games.
Rookie pivot Ethan Strange played like a seasoned pro, with the five-eighth’s running game troubling Parramatta all night.
Raiders coach Ricky Stuart challenged his team in last week’s press conference after a disappointing loss to the Sharks, and boy, they responded.
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MATCH CENTRE: Raiders vs Eels, teams, stats, video, replay
Canberra scored seven tries to two with the Eels offering no answers for a dominant Green Machine, whose attack at times, resembled a track meet.
The Raiders scored two of the tries of the season through Savage and Timoko, with both four-pointers started in their own end.
Savage ran 80 metres and sidestepped through the Eels defence to give Canberra a 12-0 lead in the first half.
Timoko’s first try in the 43rd minute was even better.
After setting James Schiller free down the right wing with a nice ball, Timoko got it back in support and despite looking as if he’d be tackled 20m out, he beat Clint Gutherson and Dylan Brown to score in the corner with an incredible put down.
“They are gapping the Eels at will now,” Matt Russell said in commentary.
Maika Sivo scored a consolation double in the second half, but Parramatta’s highlights for the night was scarse.
One of the many lowlights was prop Reagan Campbell-Gillard being placed on report for a dangerous tackle in the second half which will come under scrutiny.
The loss will put the Eels and under pressure coach Brad Arthur in the spotlight this week, and deservedly so after two straight losses to the Tigers and Raiders.
WHAT WE LEARNED
NO MOSES, BIG PROBLEM FOR PARRA
Mitchell Moses continues to prove his true worth for the Parramatta Eels, without touching a ball.
Two weeks into a three-month layoff due to a foot fracture, Moses could only watch on as his Eels teammates copped a 41-8 shellacking at the hands of the Canberra Raiders on Sunday night.
Two losses from two Moses-less performances makes the next 10 weeks an even more daunting prospect than first thought for the Eels.
Parramatta had no answers with ball in hand, wasting early chances in good territory. The only highlights came in the second half when Maika Sivo scored two almost identical tries.
One of the game’s best on his day, Dylan Brown’s struggles as chief playmaker was laid bare for all to see while rookie five-eighth Blaize Talagi was hardly sighted.
A lack of firepower from the Eels’ engine room didn’t help their cause. Only Reagan Campbell-Gillard managed to crack the 100-metre mark.
EARLY RAPANA FEARS ALLAYED
It was three minutes into proceedings when Jordan Rapana’s career flashed before his eyes.
When the competition’s sixth eldest player was left clutching at his knee and required assistance from the field, Raiders fans would be forgiven for thinking it would be the final time he would don the lime green.
A dislocated kneecap was the initial reported diagnosis. Then it was a meniscus issue. And then, Rapana returned to the sideline still in kit, only to return in the second half.
The veteran made seemingly from teflon, who has come back from far worse throughout his career including a metal plate inserted in his skull, was clearly hampered in the final 40 but managed to grind out the half with a try assist to boot.
X MARKS THE SPOT
Xavier Savage is finally beginning to live up to the hype that has followed him since his debut three seasons ago.
Restricted to just one appearance last year, Savage has featured in every game for the Raiders this season.
Savage ensured his place on the end-of-season highlight reel with a flashy performance against the Eels, underlined by a scintillating 70-metre try-scoring effort late in the first half.
Savage would leave opposite winger Sean Russell in his wake, with a swift change of direction on a backline spread in the Raiders half, before making light work of the covering Clinton Gutherson. With a pat on the back by teammate Strange to assure him he was in the clear, Savage continued on his way to finish the special effort.
Savage enjoyed the spoils of over 200 metres and a Danny Levi try assist by game’s end.
– NCA Newswire’s Jack Brady
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