In front of a roaring crowd of 23,426 exciting fans at Westbank Stadium in Sydney yesterday saw Eel’s Clinton Gutherson secure the first 4 points and a successful conversion to lead the match with 6 points ahead of the WestTigers.
Upon pocketing 2 points from a penalty kick and a second try scored by Joey Lussick brought the score for the Eels to 14.
Still hoping for a try, the Tigers managed to break through the Eels defense as Jacob Liddle scored their first try with conversion successful. Keeping the half time score at Eels 14, Tigers 6.
In the second half, Waqa Blake, through a ball contact off the Tiger’s hand, scored another try for the Eels, to lead on the scoreboard with 20 points to Tigers still trailing on 6 points.
Mitchell Moses soon after scored a runaway try to bring the score to 26.
Another try through Maika Sivo then contributed with his share of 4 points and field goal successful pushed the Eels on the score board to 32 points.
With three quarters of the match gone, James Roberts paved his way through to score for the Tigers, adding another 6 points.
Gutherson returned the favour with a try for the Eels, to bring the score to Eels 38, Tigers 12.
With less than two minutes to full time, thanks to a high tackle penalty from the Tigers, the Eels pocketed two more points in the final minutes to end the match at full time 40-12.