Round 17, 2020: Parramatta 24 New Zealand 18

NRL.com

Warriors v Eels: Loanees sit out; Field in for Brown

The Warriors welcome the Eels to the Central Coast high on confidence and dreaming of the most unlikely of finals berths.

After proving too good for the Knights last weekend, the Warriors face a Parramatta side needing to re-establish their premiership credentials.

All this from a team that has been on the road for almost five months.

After copping a 38-0 hiding from South Sydney in their last start, the Eels need to start winning again to assure themselves of a spot in the top four.

The rundown
Team news
Warriors: Eels loan players George Jennings and Daniel Alvaro can't play against Parramatta and Eliesa Katoa (hand) is out injured. Gerard Beale comes in on the wing, Jack Murchie starts in the back row and Josh Curran and Isaiah Papali'i join the bench. Captain Roger Tuivasa-Sheck has scored four tries in his past three games.

Eels: Jai Field comes in at five-eighth after the ankle injury to Dylan Brown. Marata Niukore returns from suspension in place of Andrew Davey on the bench. The Eels have scored only 40 points in their past four games.

Key match-up
Chanel Harris-Tavita v Mitchell Moses. Harris-Tavita is quickly establishing himself as a real force in the NRL. If he is able to outplay Moses on Sunday afternoon his star will continue to rise and the Warriors' late charge for a finals berth will gather even more momentum.

In last Saturday's big win over the Knights the 21-year-old was in total control, forcing two line dropouts, kicking for 387 metres and making one line break.

Stat attack
The Eels missed 41 tackles in their loss to the Rabbitohs last weekend. If they get anywhere near that total against the Warriors they are in for another tough 80 minutes. The Warriors, on the other hand, missed just 20 tackles in their impressive win over the Knights.

NRL.com

Eels win thriller to all but end Warriors' unlikely finals dream

Parramatta held their nerve to move deeper into the top four by overcoming an entertaining Warriors outfit, whose halfback Chanel Harris-Tavita a standout scoring two of the best tries of the year.

It was a gutsy win by the Eels and would have helped heal some of the wound left open after the 38-0 thumping the Rabbitohs gave them a week ago.

They also were without livewire hooker Reed Mahoney for most of the second half after he injured his left shoulder in the 52nd minute.

The Eels now jump over the Roosters to move into outright third place on the NRL ladder but have a short five-day turnaround before having to face competition leaders the Panthers at Penrith Stadium.

The Warriors were gunning for three wins in a row in their remarkable never-say die run for a finals spot. They had won four of their past five heading into today's Central Coast Stadium match but remain in 10th spot.

The contest had a little of everything – a sin-binning, a few injuries, several no-try calls but all intermingled with Blake Ferguson scoring his first try of the year while Harris-Tavita did the same.

Maika Sivo opened the scoring in the fourth minute with his 13th of the season after a nice cut-out ball from Shaun Lane opened the door for him.

The Warriors then let in two tries while Jazz Tevaga was in the sin-bin for throwing a punch at Nathan Brown, and both were beauties.

A Clint Gutherson break up the middle was followed by a kick-through from the crafty Eels fullback. Jai Field went after it at speed to give his side a 10-0 lead.

Then Ferguson broke his duck with a 25 metre dash, followed by another Moses conversion, and it was 16-0.

Ferguson scored 10 tries in his 19 games last year but it's taken 17 rounds to get one this year.

But both four-pointers paled into comparison with what the Warriors and Harris-Tavita produced for the next two quick-fire four-pointers. Their 34th and 36th minute efforts were two of the best tries of season 2020.

The ball passed through nine sets of hands, included two kicks by Harris-Tavita – who started everything rolling with his bomb to the left corner – and Kodi Nikorima before the Warriors No.7 scored their first.

Then the 21-year-old 'everywhere-man' was at it again off the back of a 65-metre run from Roger Tuivasa-Sheck. His pass came off the foot of Nikorima which Harris-Tavita scooped up for his second. His 12-point spree made it 16-12 at halftime.

It was a grinding affair for the opening 20 minutes of the second half. But things livened up when the two sides traded tries to Waqa Blake and then Hayze Perham to put the margin back again to four points at 22-18.

A Moses penalty gave the Eels a six-point buffer but a no-try ruling against Clint Gutherson gave the Warriors a glimmer of hope with three minutes left on the clock.

But with Peta Hiku gunning for the corner a wonderful piece of defence from Michael Jennings to force Hiku over the sideline near the corner post sealed the deal for the Eels.