NRL: Eels hold Dragons to draw

Fuifui Moimoi of the Eels scores a try. Photo / Getty Images

Eels14
Dragons 14

Parramatta held NRL ladder leaders St George Illawarra to a dramatic 14-all draw as neither side were able to land a knockout blow at Parramatta Stadium on night.

The two sides combined for seven missed attempts at field goals over the closing stages, the one competition point against the premiers giving Eels fans hope their faltering campaign may yet be salvageable.

Jamie Soward nailed a penalty to level the scores with 11 minutes remaining before the Dragons botched two attempts to win it in regulation time via field goals from their prolific five-eighth.

Soward actually guided his first between the posts only for referee Ashley Klein to penalise the Dragons for an incorrect play-the-ball, while his second was charged down by Jarryd Hayne as the clock wound down.

Hayne then nearly spectacularly won it in golden point, his audacious 57-metre attempt just missing.

There were more shots missed in the second half of extra time as the teams notched the first NRL draw since Penrith and the Warriors two years ago.

The Dragons' preparations may have been hampered by the death of coach Wayne Bennett's mother early on Friday morning.

The veteran coach had been in Brisbane all week but still attended the game after returning to Sydney before kick-off, although his charges appeared to be lacking their usual discipline.

The Eels made the most of a penalty against Dan Hunt to open the scoring, Fuifui Moimoi snaring a Hayne tap-back from a Casey McGuire bomb to crash over.

Another Hunt penalty allowed Burt to extend the advantage before the Dragons hit back through Adam Cuthburtson.

Hayne then helped extend the Eels' lead to 14-6 when he kicked for the corner and Jason Nightingale spilled the effort for Taniela Lasalo to dive over.

An errant Burt hand denied the Eels a third try from a kick in the shadows of halftime, but the Dragons found some rhythm after the break as they got into their premiership-winning grind.

The pressure finally told on the home side as their gallant resistance gave way thanks to a deft Peni Tagive pick-up off a Darius Boyd grubber, the Dragons closing to within two as Soward nailed the conversion from wide out before he repeated the dose with his match-levelling penalty from almost the identical spot.

PARRAMATTA 14 (T Lasalo F Moimoi tries L Burt 3 goals) drew ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA 14 (A Cuthbertson P Tagive tries J Soward 3 goals) after golden-point extra time at Parramatta Stadium. Referee: Gerard Sutton, Ashley Klein. Crowd: 16,066.

- AAP