The Dyldam Parramatta Eels came away with a 36-6 victory over the Canberra Raiders at Pirtek Stadium last night (Saturday 19 April) and Blue and Gold Team Captain Kieran Foran said the side wanted to make up for the last minute loss to the Panthers last week.
Suffering a last minute defeat last week, with two tries scored against the side in the last seven minutes, Foran and the Eels were spurred on to make up from last week’s performance.
“We were really hurting after last weeks game,” Foran said.
“To lose a game like that in the dying stages, it really hurts and everyone was really disappointed. We wanted to make sure that we came out here today and put on a really solid performance at home,” he added.
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With Head Coach Brad Arthur confirming halves partners Kieran Foran and Corey Norman had been able to train multiple times this week, the halfback was pleased to continue to work on the combination.
Foran also received more reassurance in the recovery on his hamstring, an injury that saw him ruled out of the season opener over a month ago, as he stepped his way through Canberra’s defence and score a brilliant individual try, his first for his new club.
“It was nice to find myself in some open space,” Foran said.
“I don’t break the line too often so I wanted to grab it.”
“I think moment’s like that help you get over your injuries, he added.
“We’ve worked overtime on it and we’re really comfortable that it’s strong and I’m not going to have any issues moving forward with it. “
With the Eels defence being the main focus over the opening five rounds of the competition, the Eels offence came out of the blocks firing, taking a 24-0 lead in the opening half.
Foran’s four pointer was just one of the tries in the opening stanza, with forward Beau Scott crossing, and centre Michael Jennings adding two tries to his tally.
“It was nice to get on the training paddock a couple of times this week going into the game,” Foran said.
“It’s nice when you’re able to work towards something during the week and train on certain aspects and able to execute it during the game,” he added.
“We had some joy down that side so we decided to keep going there."
The captain credited the solid preparation the side has done in the pre-season for the early defensive fortitude, highlighted by the seven back-to-back sets on their own try line.
“I just think it’s the hard work we put in during the pre season,” Foran said.
“We made it a really strong focus of ours throughout the pre season that defence was going to be a key factor in winning games.”
“We wanted to get all our structures right and work really hard on it."
“I think it’s showing what we’ve put in during pre season.”
The Eels have a short turnaround this week, taking on Foran’s old club, the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles on Thursday night at Brookvale Oval.
“I’ll just get over this game and get the body right,” he said.
“It’s a short turn around so we’ve just got to ice up and prepare ourselves as best we can for the short turn around and get ourselves right for a good match.”
