The Roosters overcame the loss of two of their leaders as they outscored the Eels 34-12 to keep their finals hopes alive.
Prop Jared Waerea-Hargreaves was a late withdrawal before the match due to acute neck pain, but in big news, captain James Tedesco left the game mid-way though the second half for an HIA, with the head knock later deemed to be Category 1 by the independent doctor, which would rule him out for next week’s match against the Tigers.
Going into tonight’s game, there was all to play for with both teams needing to win to keep their finals flame flickering.
The Eels were always going to do it tough without their chief playmaker Mitchell Moses, who suffered a facial fracture last week and it showed, despite them looking up for the contest early, displaying the type of intent expected of a game of this importance.
Parramatta even scored the first try of the match to the delight of the home crowd at CommBank Stadium when a fully outstretched Bryce Cartwright reached out and was able to touch the ball down on the line to garner a green light from the Bunker.
The Roosters however were able to soak up more pressure before returning fire, going bang, bang, bang with three unanswered tries to close out the first half.
They got their first try thanks to skipper James Tedesco following a scrum, with the Eels defenders falling for his dummy and falling off their attempts to tackle him as he ran through the score.
They went back-to-back, again following a scrum play, but this time by going to the other corner, with Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii finding space down the right side.
The third try came by exploiting Parramatta’s left-side defence once more, with Joey Manu galloping down field, producing an offload back on the inside to Tedesco who was trailing up the middle, who then ran over for his second of the match and the third try of the half for the visitors.
The second half saw the Roosters open the scoring with Tedesco again involved, setting up Suaalii to do over for his second.
Eels skipper Clint Gutherson provided a brief moment of hope when he was able to run in for a second half try, with his conversion narrowing the margin to 10 points.
But that hope was short-lived, with Siua Wong and Nat Butcher adding to the scoreboard extend the lead for their side.
Prior to this win, the Roosters’ season looked to be on a knife’s edge after suffering a heavy loss to the Broncos, but they have since won three games in a row and are showing good attacking form.
