League: Parramatta too slippery for Warriors

Parramatta Eels' Nathan Cayless passes the ball as he's tackled by Warirors Monty Beetham. Picture / Fotopress

Parramatta showed the New Zealand Warriors the stark difference between pretenders and contenders by winning their National Rugby League match 38-20 in Auckland tonight.

Second on the points table behind Brisbane entering the match, the Eels came back from an indifferent opening quarter to effectively terminate any hope the Warriors had of qualifying for the top eight playoffs.

The Warriors, in a share of 11th place and four point outside the top eight before tonight, simply had to win to cling to any chance of appearing in this year's playoffs.

Behind 0-8 after just 10 minutes and 10-14 at halftime, Parramatta calmly took their opportunities when they presented themselves.

Clinical finishing was their trumpcard, one which enabled them to hit the lead for the first time in the 57th minute when fullback Wade Mackinnon hit the line on a good angle to burst through for a converted try.

It signalled the opening of the floodgates as Parramatta added further converted tries to Ben Smith, Glenn Morrison and Timana Tahu in the space of just eight minutes to steal a march on the Warriors and lead 32-14.

Then in the 74th minute wing Luke Burt, who finished the match with a personal haul of 18 points from two first-half tries and five goals, set up Smith for another try after snaffling an intercept deep inside Eels territory.

The game ended with Warriors five-eighth Nathan Fien collecting his second try in the last minute but it was purely a consolation offering by that stage.

The Warriors had been in front 14-10 at halftime but their advantage could easily have been significantly greater.

Wing Todd Byrne seemed set for a try after gathering in a Stacey Jones bomb only to see his opposite Eric Groethe strip the ball from his grasp; Sione Faumuina was dragged down agonisingly short of the tryline; then Iafeta Paleaaesina was held up over the line.

As it was they still managed first-half tries to Wairangi Koopu and Fien, both converted by Jones, who opened the scoring in the fourth minute with a penalty.

The Warriors were all over the Eels in the opening quarter and led 8-0 after just 10 minutes.

But Parramatta showed slick efficiency when on attack to engineer two tries to Burt, in the 26th and 33rd minutes.

The first was the result of an exquisite chip kick by five-eighth John Morris which sat up invitingly for Burt, and the second followed an audacious no-look pass over his right shoulder by Tahu which gifted Burt an unimpeded short run to the line.

Parramatta coach Brian Smith was delighted to leave Auckland with two competition points, particularly after viewing his team's effort in the first spell.

"That's the loosest win that I've coached," Smith said.

"We were crazy with the ball in the first half. We made far too many errors and never put nearly enough pressure on.

"But we certainly came up with some great plays in the second half on the back of a lot of possession as well."

Parramatta 38 (Luke Burt 2, Ben Smith 2, Wade Mackinnon, Glenn Morrison, Timana Tahu tries; Burt 5 goals) 

Warriors 20 (Nathan Fien 2, Wairangi Koopu tries; Stacey Jones 4 goals).

Halftime: 10-14.

- NZPA