Fighting Eels stay in finals contention
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Eels winger Taulima Tautai dives over for one of his two tries (AAP: Jonathan Ng)
The Eels showed they are not yet a spent force in season 2008 with a convincing 40-12 win over Wests Tigers in Monday night's round 23 NRL clash at Parramatta Stadium.
Playing sudden-death football with just three weeks left in the home-and-away season, the Eels put together one of their best displays of the season to dismantle the Tigers and move just one win outside the top eight.
Parramatta scored four tries to one in the opening stanza to take a commanding 22-6 lead into the break, and racked up three more four-pointers in the second half to crush the Tigers, who missed an opportunity to move inside the eight.
The only sour note for the Eels came just two minutes from the full-time siren when five-eighth Feleti Mateo went to ground with a knee injury before hobbling off with the help of two trainers.
With tons of talent on their roster, Michael Hagan's side has been the biggest underachiever of the competition this season, but showed tonight what they are capable of when firing on all cylinders.
The Tigers' defence had no answer for the potent Eels backline, which combined for five tries, and with Brett Finch deploying a pin-point kicking game Parramatta was rarely threatened as it notched its second-straight win.
Tireless second rower Nathan Hindmarsh had a standout game for the Eels with a try and 21 tackles, and said with two wins on the trot the club was finally finding its groove after struggling early in the season.
"Two weeks in a row now we're not going too bad," he told Fox Sports.
"We're playing as a team - the forwards are playing with the backs and the backs are playing with the forwards.
"We've missed that a lot this season. It's attitude as well.
"There's a difference between bashing sides and controlling sides. It's not all about biff and bash, there's some technique as well."
The Eels finish their season with games against the Bulldogs, Dragons and Warriors, and in all likelihood need to win all three to make the finals.
Parramatta did all the early running in front of a boisterous home crowd, opening the scoring after just six minutes when burly winger Taulima Tautai barged over his opposite number on the right wing.
The Eels followed up with three more tries in the first 40 minutes, including Tautai's second in the 33rd minute, to lead the shell-shocked Tigers 22-0 late in the half.
Benji Marshall ensured the Tigers would go to the sheds with some semblance of hope after running 70 metres to score right on half-time, and the visitors pulled the margin back to 10 points in the 52nd minute with a try to second rower Chris Heighington.
But that try proved to be the last points Wests would score for the night as the Eels ran roughshod in the final stages of the game, full-back Jarryd Hayne taking advantage of his side's dominance to post a late double.
Hayne's first in the 55th minute restored the Eels margin, and Mateo iced the game eight minutes later when he sliced through some flimsy goal-line defence for a 34-12 lead.
The Tigers are now in danger of missing out on the eight after falling into a four-way tie for 10th with the Eels, Gold Coast and Knights, and face tough games against Manly, Cronulla and the Titans to close out the season.
Parramatta 40 (T Tautai 2, J Hayne 2, F Moimoi, N Hindmarsh, F Mateo tries; K Inu 5 conversions, penalty)
Wests 12 (B Marshall, C Heighington tries; B Hodgson 2 conversions)
