The Parramatta Eels Jersey Flegg side suffered a 32-16 defeat to the New Zealand Warriors at Ringrose Park on Saturday 2 June in Round 13 of the Jersey Flegg competition.
After two convincing wins over the past fortnight, the young Blue & Gold started the game on the front foot coming away with points early.
Making their way down field with strong charges from the Eels middle forwards, half Todd Sapienza put through a nicely weighted kick to find a flying Haze Dunster on the left wing winning the race to the ball to score to score a converted try.
However the Warriors struck back quickly. Starting their set inside their own red zone, a handful of offloads and support runners had the Eels backpeddling before an offload to fullback Kayal Iro had the number one slicing through the defence before running to score for a converted try after 10 minutes.
The Eels looked to have scored when lock forward Jesse Cronin was held up over the line close to the posts, before in the ensuing set, some desperation from the young Blue & Gold eventually found hooker Ayden Carling burrowing his way over to put the Eels back in front, 10-6.
However Eels ill-discipline and errors began to creep into the game and brought the Warriors back into the contest. A short side play on the last tackle catches the Eels napping and the Warriors levelled the score through Carlos Henry after 31 minutes.
Strong charges from Cronin broke apart the Warriors defence, slicing them straight through the middle, and the Eels capitalised when back rower Nick Okladnikov pounced on a Sapienza grubber to put the Eels back in front.
The young Blue & Gold taking a 16-10 lead into half time.
The second half however saw the Eels ill-discipline creep back into the game, and the Warriors converted their weight of possession into points in the 54th minute when right centre Patrick Elia strolled across the try line.
Another opportunity presented itself to the Warriors, when a misguided Eels pass was ruled forward, and a sweeping play through the hands of the Warriors left edge had lock Tom Ale crashing over in the 68th minute to put the Warriors ahead, 20-16.
The swing of momentum was well and truly on the side of the away team, and capitalizing on some sprawled out Eels defenders, Warriors Edward Kosi went over in the 71st minute of the clash.
Further penalties in the final 10 minutes were impacting the game, but it was an error in the Eels defence that gifted Kosi his second try in five minutes to put the Warriors ahead by 16 as they secured a 32-16 victory after the Eels squandered a first half lead.
Parramatta Eels 16 (Tries: Haze Dunster, Ayden Carling, Nick Okladnikov; Goals: Todd Sapienza 2)
Def by
New Zealand Warriors 32 (Tries: Edward Kosi (2), Kayal Iro, Carlos Henry, Patrick Elia, Tom Ale; Goals: Eiden Ackland 3)
