Eels down Bulldogs

The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs have been defeated by the Parramatta Eels, 36-16 in front of a crowd of 21,344 at ANZ Stadium.

The Bulldogs scored the opening two tries of the match in the 14th and 17th minutes of the first half.

The first came when Lachlan Lewis placed a perfectly weighted kick for his halves partner Kieran Foran to score under the post. Kerrod Holland converted to give the Dogs a 6-0 lead.

Three minutes later and the Bulldogs were in through winger Reimis Smith who finished a nice back line play to score in the corner and the home side led 10-0.

The Eels hit back in the 28th and 31st minutes through outside backs Blake Ferguson and Clint Gutherson. Mitchell Moses converted both tries and give the visitors a 12-10 lead at the half time break.

The second half started with three tries from the Eels within the opening ten minutes.

Gutherson scored his second of the match in the 41st minute when Ferguson made a break down filed to put the fullback away and score under the post.

Blake Ferguson than scored his second try four minutes later when he took an intercept and ran 90 metres to score. Moses converted both tries to give the Eels a 24-10 lead.

In the 49th minute Shaun Lane scored when he took an intercept to race 30 metres and score under the post. Moses converted and the Eels lead was out to 20.

The Bulldogs weren’t going away and in the 63rd minute, Dylan Napa crashed over for his first try in Bulldogs colours.

The front-row forward collected a ball from Lachlan Lewis to force his way over the try line. Holland converted and the lead was cut to 14.

Rookie Eels half Dylan Brown grabbed his first try in the NRL when he put Jaeman Salmon through a gap in the 68th minute and then backed him up to score under the post and give the Eels their sixth try. Moses added his sixth conversion to give the Eels a 36-16 lead and that was the final scoreline when the full time siren went.