Round 21
Eels 31 d. Sea Eagles 18

2006 NRL Telstra Premiership Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

Location: Aus_NZ > National > First Grade Competition: NRL Telstra Premiership

Moi Moi sent off in impressive Eels victory
Sun July 30, 2006
The season of Parramatta prop forward Fui Fui Moi Moi could be over after being the 3rd player this season following Matt Utai and Adrian Morley to be sent-off during the Eels impressive 31-18 victory against Manly at Parramatta Stadium.

Moi Moi was dismissed by referee Steve Clark in the 49th minute when he collected Manly's Brent Kite in a high shot and his poor judiciary record could mean he'll be facing a ban of at least five matches and even upwards of nine matches. Utai received five weeks for his offence and Morley's kneeing charge wasn't even graded where he received only seven matches. Moi Moi is looking at more than both Utai and Morley.

Parramatta were leading 24-8 at the time of the incident and Manly in quick time put on two tries Chris Hicks and Luke Williamson to bring the score back to 24-18 with just over 20 minutes remaining.

The Eels dug deep in defence with Luke Burt scoring the match-winner eight minutes from time to make it 30-18, which was his second try of the night and John Morris made sure of the victory with a drop-goal three minutes later.

Luke O'Dwyer and Jarryd Hayne scored in the 3rd and 13th minutes respectively to open up an early 12-0 lead for the Eels.

Steve Matai got through a poor attempt at tackle by Hayne to put Manly's first points on the board.

Burt who was recalled to the Eels line-up after a long stint out of the side due to Wade McKinnon withdrawing scored two tries and landed five goals with his opening try coming in the 34th minute for the Eels to lead 18-4.

Paul Stephenson scored a crucial try for Manly with a minute remaining before half-time. Both tries by Manly in the first half were unconverted by Matt Orford with the Eels going into the break up by 10 points.

O'Dwyer scored his second try just after half-time to push Parramatta's lead out to 24-8 until the Moi Moi send off had an immediate impact on the game before the Eels composed themselves to finish victors and are now equal on points in the log jam for 8th position.

Parramatta coach Jason Taylor after the match said,

"For us to do the job in the last 30 minutes with only 12 men was a great effort. It was our best win over the last few weeks, that's for sure.

"I haven't had a look at it (Moi Moi send off tackle), but when we lost Fui, we got a bit panicky and played individually a bit defensively and were all over the place. When we settled down, we did a great job to finish the game and outscored them with a man down.

"I've said all along, I would have been disappointed if we didn't finish the year playing as well as we can. That's all we can do at the moment. There's still a long way to go. Now that we've got this close, it doesn't mean we say, `If we don't make it, we've failed'. We've done a great job to get here. If that's good enough to get us in the eight, then great. If it's not, I won't be disappointed.

"The thing I wanted to avoid was having a season where there are seven or eight games to go and we say, 'Oh, there's eight to go, let's get it over with - now there's seven, now six. I've been part of those seasons before and it's not enjoyable. We want to finish strongly now. We're certainly believing in each other.''

Manly coach Des Hasler said, "There were some consistency issues around the ruck that I'll ask Robert Finch about. Players were a little bit frustrated with the ruck calls.

"We thought we had a chance there to win the game, but all credit to Parramatta. When they were down to 12 men they rose to the occasion.''

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