Canberra put brake on Eels fightback

CANBERRA weathered a second-half NRL storm from Parramatta to prevail 30-18 at GIO Stadium yesterday.

With the Raiders taking a 22-6 lead into halftime, Eels halfback Corey Norman changed the momentum of the game with a great 40-20 kick.

From the ensuing possession, Parramatta fullback Bevan French sliced through before dishing the ball to Michael Jennings to score, with Clinton Gutherson’s conversion narrowing the gap to 10. Five minutes later the Eels were in again, hooker Kaysa Pritchard diving over from dummy-half, the margin reduced to just four.

But Canberra weren’t about to be overrun, with exciting 18year-old winger Nick Cotric scoring a brilliant try to arrest the Eels’ momentum and give his side crucial breathing space with 10 minutes remaining.

Cotric broke a tackle and danced his way through the Eels’ defence, celebrating before he had grounded the ball near the posts.

The Raiders got off to a flying start with an Aidan Sezer grubber kick allowing Sia Soliola to open the scoring after six minutes. Parramatta levelled the scores at the 25-minute mark through a converted Bevan French try.

It was then time for the ‘Leipana’ show, with Canberra’s lethal right-edge combination of Joey Leilua and Jordan Rapana taking centre stage.

Just before the half-hour mark, Leilua sent it wide to Rapana who took off down the right wing and set up Blake Austin for the four-pointer.

Minutes later, Rapana took a cross field chip kick and offloaded it to Leilua who chased his own toe poke to cap a superb attacking move.