1981 1982 1983 1986 
Post by Electric Eel on May 16, 2020 14:42:49 GMT 10
1986 National Panasonic Cup: Parramatta 32 d Balmain 16
Parramatta won their second National Panasonic Cup title and the $131,000 prize money in 1986 with an emphatic 32-16 win over defending champions, Balmain, at Leichhardt Oval. The Eels achieved the highest score in a finals game
in the Cup's sixteen year history.
Parramatta went into the match as favorites against a Balmain side which was full of question marks with topliners like Garry Jack and Steve Roach carrying injuries into the game. The experts tipped the game to be decided up front and that's just where the match, in the end, was decided. The Eels in-form props, Terry Leabeater and Geoff Bugden, played key roles just as they had done in the matches against the heavyweights, Canterbury and Manly.
The Tigers opened the scoring after a few minutes when Gary Schofield, in the absence of Ross Conlon, landed a penalty from 40 metres out. Parramatta hit back soon after when Bugden charged on to a Peter Sterling pass to barge over for the opening try of the cup final. The Eels scored again when Ray Price charged down a Gary Bridge kick and while spectators and Balmain players were trying to work out why play wasn't stopped, Price sent Brett Kenny in for the first of his two tries. At 10-2 the Eels were applying constant pressure to Balmain, but the Tigers then scored against the run of play. Winger Russell Gartner took off down the touchline finding Tony Myler on the inside who got the four pointer to narrow the Eels lead.
The turning point of the match came immediately after when Peter Wynn charged ahead scattering the Balmain defence before stretching out to put the ball under the black dot. At 16-6 the Eels were looking good and with Balmain continuing to fall off tackles in the crucial third quarter, Peter Wynn capitalised again. This time running straight he cracked the Tigers defence before standing in the tackle and unloading to send Steve Ella in for the clincher. With Eden's conversion, it was now 22-6.
Parramatta were unbeatable in the mood they were in. Their support play was outstanding and it almost looked at times as though they had more men on the field than Balmain. A long pass by Kenny out wide saw Muggleton crash over with three players in support just in case they were needed. That made it 26-6.
The final Eels try was started by Sterling with an orthodox run-around with Laurie, he then ran clear before flicking a neat pass inside to Ella and the zip zip man calmly went downfield before drawing the defence to send Kenny in for a textbook-type try. With Eden adding the extras it was now a staggering 32-6. The Tigers continued to play with a lot of spirit and they came up with two late tries through some great Scott Gale acceleration and Stephen Humphreys joining in out wide.
The win was a triumph for coach John Monie. It was his first success since taking over in 1984 and the one-sided contest certainly stunned the crowd of 16,000.
Parramatta 32 (B.Kenny 2, G.Bugden, P.Wynn, S.Ella, J.Muggleton tries, Eden 4 goals) defeated Balmain 16 (Myler, Gale, Humphreys tries, Schofield 2 goals).
Parramatta won their second National Panasonic Cup title and the $131,000 prize money in 1986 with an emphatic 32-16 win over defending champions, Balmain, at Leichhardt Oval. The Eels achieved the highest score in a finals game
in the Cup's sixteen year history.
Parramatta went into the match as favorites against a Balmain side which was full of question marks with topliners like Garry Jack and Steve Roach carrying injuries into the game. The experts tipped the game to be decided up front and that's just where the match, in the end, was decided. The Eels in-form props, Terry Leabeater and Geoff Bugden, played key roles just as they had done in the matches against the heavyweights, Canterbury and Manly.
The Tigers opened the scoring after a few minutes when Gary Schofield, in the absence of Ross Conlon, landed a penalty from 40 metres out. Parramatta hit back soon after when Bugden charged on to a Peter Sterling pass to barge over for the opening try of the cup final. The Eels scored again when Ray Price charged down a Gary Bridge kick and while spectators and Balmain players were trying to work out why play wasn't stopped, Price sent Brett Kenny in for the first of his two tries. At 10-2 the Eels were applying constant pressure to Balmain, but the Tigers then scored against the run of play. Winger Russell Gartner took off down the touchline finding Tony Myler on the inside who got the four pointer to narrow the Eels lead.
The turning point of the match came immediately after when Peter Wynn charged ahead scattering the Balmain defence before stretching out to put the ball under the black dot. At 16-6 the Eels were looking good and with Balmain continuing to fall off tackles in the crucial third quarter, Peter Wynn capitalised again. This time running straight he cracked the Tigers defence before standing in the tackle and unloading to send Steve Ella in for the clincher. With Eden's conversion, it was now 22-6.
Parramatta were unbeatable in the mood they were in. Their support play was outstanding and it almost looked at times as though they had more men on the field than Balmain. A long pass by Kenny out wide saw Muggleton crash over with three players in support just in case they were needed. That made it 26-6.
The final Eels try was started by Sterling with an orthodox run-around with Laurie, he then ran clear before flicking a neat pass inside to Ella and the zip zip man calmly went downfield before drawing the defence to send Kenny in for a textbook-type try. With Eden adding the extras it was now a staggering 32-6. The Tigers continued to play with a lot of spirit and they came up with two late tries through some great Scott Gale acceleration and Stephen Humphreys joining in out wide.
The win was a triumph for coach John Monie. It was his first success since taking over in 1984 and the one-sided contest certainly stunned the crowd of 16,000.
Parramatta 32 (B.Kenny 2, G.Bugden, P.Wynn, S.Ella, J.Muggleton tries, Eden 4 goals) defeated Balmain 16 (Myler, Gale, Humphreys tries, Schofield 2 goals).
