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The Parramatta Eels have overcome another week from hell to keep their faint finals hopes alive, clinching a three-try comeback victory over Sydney Roosters.Â
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Parramatta fight back to defeat Roosters
The Eels turned around a twelve point deficit to defeat the Roosters.
The 22-18 result means the Eels must win their remaining eight games to have any hope of finishing inside the top eight once they lose points for the salary cap breach. That chance remains more mathematical than it does realistic, but on a day when their star signing of the season, Kieran Foran, requested his contract be terminated, the narrow victory provided their long-suffering fans with some respite from an otherwise disastrous year. Â
Not even the return of former hero Jeff Robson – the last halfback to lead them into a grand final – could mask the pain of such an ill-fated campaign. Battling horizontal rain and freezing conditions, those 8000 or so fans who attended asked themselves one same question: could things get much worse?Â
The immediate answer, sadly, was yes. It took a matter of minutes for yet another blow to be delivered upon the blue and gold when star Semi Radradra was forced off with a suspected knee injury. It had been a tough week for the flying Fijian – who days ago was in court to face charges of domestic violence – and it only became worse.
It was from the very side the injured Radradra should have been defending that Roosters fullback Latrell Mitchell broke through, splitting the Eels' line with a spectacular solo run to the try line.
A suspected medial ligament rupture will have the besieged Eels coach Brad Arthur sweating on scans in the coming days while Isaac De Gois joined Radradra in the injury ward after suffering a head knock.Â
Michael Gordon hit back for the Eels. A delicate grubber by five-eighth Corey Norman caught the Roosters unaware, allowing his fullback to pounce and draw level.Â
A quick-fire double from the Roosters early in the second-half cooled the sense of a win for Parramatta after Boyd Cordner, latching onto a knock-down by Daniel Tupou, crossed for a simple try eight minutes after the restart.
The Eels failed to learn from those errors and just two minutes later, the Roosters crossed again using the exact same set play. A high ball to Tupou's wing was palmed back down for his inside man, this time Mitchell, who secured the loose ball to score his second of the match.Â
Parramatta fans experienced more disappointment when Eels winger Bevan French intercepted the ball 10 metres off his line. He looked certain to score an incredible try, only to be denied by a last-gasp ankle tap by his opposite number, Joseph Manu.Â
Norman then proved the architect for the Eels' second try with a trademark grubber to find Manu Ma'u. The powerful Eels' second-rower barged through the Roosters' defence to pull the score back to 18-16 and ensure a tense finish.Â
The comeback was sealed with five minutes left to play when yet another classy short kick from Norman unravelled the Roosters, allowing winger Clint Gutherson to score in the corner, sealing a morale-boosting victory for the under-seige club.Â
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