Eels 36
Cowboys 24
Jarryd Hayne inspired Parramatta to a 36-24 win over North Queensland in their NRL match last night, with the superstar fullback scoring a stunning hat-trick.
Parramatta are now just two competition points out of the top eight, and have moved above Newcastle into 10th place on the ladder.
The Eels began the flashback to their golden run to last year's grand final when Hayne burst through for a 50m dash to the line in the 33rd minute to give the home side a 12-6 lead.
Hayne was in the thick of it again in the 38th minute when Jeff Robson put up a well-placed bomb for last year's Dally M medallist to out-jump Matt Bowen, step inside Johnathan Thurston and dive over.
The first-half carve up was complete 25secs from the siren when Krisnan Inu dashed away.
Cowboy Anthony Watts knocked on at dummy-half after the first tackle of the second half, and a blunder cleaning up a kick by Thurston and Bowen behind the goal-line allowed Joel Reddy to score the Eels' fifth try in 14 minutes either side of the break.
Parramatta worryingly conceded two soft tries before Hayne barged over to complete his personal rout.
Arana Taumata, Willie Tonga and Will Tupou scored late tries for the Cowboys.
- AAP