Eels' surge continues as Sharks flounder - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Eels' surge continues as Sharks flounder

By Steve Jancetic 12/08/2006 11:15:55 PM Comments (0)

Parramatta's tidal wave of form is verging on a full blown tsunami after the Eels stormed to their eighth straight win with a 34-14 victory over Cronulla, the club's best winning run since its last grand final appearance in 2001.

Down 12-8 at halftime, the Eels scored four unanswered tries after the break to consign the Sharks to their seventh consecutive loss and put another nail in the coffin that is Cronulla's dwindling finals dream.

Just months after being considered a genuine challenger for the wooden spoon, Parramatta could finish the weekend in fourth spot if both Brisbane and St George Illawarra lose on Sunday - a distinct possibility given they are playing competition frontrunners Melbourne and the Bulldogs respectively.

Eels coach Jason Taylor, who now possesses a 9-3 record after taking over from Brian Smith mid-season, described the win as the best of his short career after his side regrouped to romp home in the second half.

"For me it was our most pleasing win that we've had in the last couple of months because we were up against it," Taylor said.

"The opposition were playing for their season and sometimes teams come out and you know that they're desperate ... I thought they were at their best in the first half.

"We got back to what we do well and that was the most pleasing thing, that we grinded our way out of it in the second half."

Their resurgence started only three minutes after the restart with rookie winger Jarryd Hayne crossing for his 14th try in just his 12th game before Wade McKinnon and Luke Burt, who finished with a personal haul of 18 points from two tries and five goals, iced the game for the visitors.

McKinnon made Brett Kimmorley pay for a spilt pass on halfway and some questionable judgement from stand-in fullback Nigel Vagana, the Kiwi international showing McKinnon the line as he burst through the gap with the Eels speedster gleefully accepting the invitation.

Burt then secured his double within the space of four minutes, the first coming after Brett Kearney had lost the ball cold in his own in-goal with Kimmorley describing the incident indicative of just how the two sides are travelling.

"When you've got a lot of confidence you score some 50-50 tries and they sort of went three in a row that were pretty quick I suppose," Kimmorley said.

"At the start of the year we were getting the bounce of the ball and we weren't even trying much. We were playing really well and when you get on that roll of winning everything happens.

"You can say the bounce doesn't go you way but maybe you're not there to get the bounce either."

Cronulla now needs to win all three of its remaining matches to be any chance of making the top eight.

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