The Canberra Raiders have fallen short of a prelim berth after going down to the Parramatta Eels 40-4 at CommBank Stadium on Friday night.
The Raiders were solid in defeat and never gave up with Xavier Savage starring with 205 running metres and the try of the match.
The opening five minutes of the match saw both sides exchange strong attacking sets but an error from Jordan Rapana coming out of the Raiders’ end provided the Eels with their first points.
A shift to the right hand side found Will Penisini who was able to muscle his way to the line. Mitchell Moses slotted the conversion making it 6-nil in as many minutes.
Rapana almost redeemed himself in the 13th minute with a try but Parramatta captain Clinton Gutherson was able to knock the ball loose just before he grounded it.
Parramatta’s luck didn’t stop there with a Dylan Brown grubber in the following set bowling Xavier Savage allowing for Tom Opacic to race through and ground the ball. Following Moses’s failed conversion attempt, the Eels remained on a ten-point lead.
On the return to play, Corey Harawira-Neara stumbled away from a tackle after colliding with Reagan Campbell-Gillard. He was immediately ruled out of the game with a category one head knock.
The Eels crossed over for two quick tries in the 20th and 24th minutes through Waqa Blake and Junior Paulo. Moses kicked both conversions to extend Parramatta’s lead to 22-points.
But somehow against the run of play, Savage burnt the Eels with an 80-metre run to score Canberra’s first four-pointer in the 28th minute. The flashy fullback broke multiple tackles with light footwork and blinding pace to get across the line.
Jamal Fogarty was unsuccessful with the conversion attempt, keeping it at 22-4.
Just before the break, Eels winger Maika Sivo somehow found his way over for a try but after a review from the Bunker, it was shown he had lost the ball in his efforts to find the line.
Neither team could break the other after it in the dying minutes of the half with the Raiders down 18-points going into halftime.
Canberra were denied a try early in the second half through Jack Wighton and Parramatta capitalised, with Moses making a break for the right hand corner and scoring in the 45th minute.
Moses was able to convert his own four-pointer to give the Eels their biggest lead of the night of 24-points.
Needing to change the momentum to get back into the game, Raiders coach Ricky Stuart looked to his star forwards Josh Papalii and Joseph Tapine to help lead them to victory.
Off the platform laid by the two damaging big bodies, Canberra went so close to scoring with a crafty kick back in-field from Rapana going straight through the hands of Wighton.
With nine minutes to go, Parramatta secured the victory with Marata Niukore bursting his way through to make it 34-4 after the conversion from Moses.
Things got fiery after a controversial tackle from Wighton which rocked Moses. Both sides came in but the situation fizzled out as quick as it started.
Wighton was placed on report and Parramatta were awarded a penalty which they opted to take a shot at goal for. Moses slotted it to extend their lead to 32-points with just under five minutes remaining.
The Eels crossed over for one last try in the final minute of the match with Niukore crossing once again in the left corner. Moses hit the upright with the conversion, leaving Parramatta ahead 40-4.
This loss brings to an end an great season from the Raiders who proved many wrong making it through to the second week of the finals. With a big off-season ahead, Canberra will be sure to make a deeper run next year.
