Eels enraged by Talagi no-try call as Knights put Best foot forward to ...

A controversial disallowed try to Blaize Talagi has kept the Eels anchored to the bottom of the ladder after Newcastle surged home to claim a nail-biting 34-26 win on Saturday night at McDonald Jones Stadium.

Newcastle scored two late tries to consign Parramatta to their eighth defeat in nine matches and all but certainly end any faint chance they had of making a late playoff push.

With the scores locked at 16-16 midway through the second half, Parramatta looked to hit the front when rookie winger Blaize Talagi touched down out wide.

However, referee Peter Gough, in concert with the Bunker, controversially ruled he put the ball down millimetres before the stripe and rolled the ball onto the line.

“No, that’s a try there. Nooooo,” wailed Greg Alexander on Fox League commentary as the replay indicated it was a fair try with momentum getting the ball onto the chalk.

Eels halfback Mitchell Moses and captain Clint Gutherson blew up at about the decision but their complaints fell on deaf ears.

Moses starred for the Eels, showing no signs of fatigue despite his star turn for NSW midweek, while Bradman Best was a colossus for the victorious home side and would not look out of place in sky-blue again if there are any injuries to the Blues’ centres stocks before Origin III.

Pendulum swings all over the place

Newcastle dominated the early exchanges but the Eels were the first to register points when Blaize Talagi ran around fellow winger Greg Marzhew with ease for a 6–0 lead in the 12th minute.

Knights fans, along with Immortal halfback Andrew Johns, had been calling for Will Pryce to get a chance at NRL level for several weeks and the young English five-eighth vindicated that support when he backed up a tremendous pass from Daniel Saifiti to equalise.

Moses switched to second receiver from a scrum win and scooted clear of the defence for a 12-6 advantage before the Knights hit back when Marzhew chimed onto the end of a left-side raid.

The Knights hit the front  early in the second half when Best’s quick hands propelled Marzhew over for his second.

They looked to go further in front twice but were denied twice in the space of three minutes – firstly when Talagi fumbled a bomb and Marzhew claimed a third before the Bunker ruled Kai Pearce-Paul was offside in the kick-chase and then when Best was held up over the line when Will Penisini’s boot wedged between the Steeden and the turf.

Talagi bounced back from his near miss to touch down out wide after Newcastle rookie fullback Fletcher Sharpe botched a bomb defusal.

Moses scored his second try from a scrum, setting up at fullback and sprinting from near halfway for a 20-16 buffer. 

Enari Tuala put Newcastle back in front with 14 minutes left when Dane Gagai grubbered ahead and the ball spewed out to the winger.

With the Eels down two and throwing the ball around, Talagi’s hands let him down again and Best pounced to run 90 metres to seal the victory.

Junio Paulo conjured up a try four minutes from time to give the Knights a late fright but with Best registering another runaway try in the dying seconds, they hung on with all their might to finish the night right.

Pryce right for Knights

He dropped a couple of f-bombs in his thick northern English accent as he proclaimed his love for his adopted home of Newcastle and the Knights club but that was the only slip-up by Pryce in his NRL debut.

The young playmaker was trumpeted as a key acquisition heading into the season alongside Pearce-Paul as two of the finest Super League prospects to head to the NRL but Pryce had been forced to bide his time in the NSW Cup until Round 17.

With his famous father Leon watching on from the grandstand, he gave the Knights some much-needed spark in attack, scored a try and looks to have a very bright future at this level.

Newcastle are now up to a 7-8 record and have kept their heads above water while Kalyn Ponga has been sidelined for the past two months and he is due is back in the next few weeks so they could be in a position to duplicate last year’s late-season surge to the finals.

If other results go their way, they could be equal with a bunch of teams on 18 points in a fight for eighth spot after this round or worst-case scenario, just one win outside the playoff equation.

Best was way too physical for Parramatta out wide and after two tries in his Origin III debut last year, he probably would have been back in NSW colours at some stage this series if not for a recent hamstring injury.

Mitch craft not enough for Eels

Interim coach Trent Barrett tried a clever manouevre by playing Moses a couple of passes wide from scrums and twice it led to tries with the NSW halfback’s blistering acceleration too much for the Newcastle defence.

Moses is not only Parramatta’s best player at halfback, he’d be their best five-eighth, fullback and option in probably another couple of other positions.

But alas, he can only fill one spot and the Eels lack electricity elsewhere.

Their pack was conspicuous by its absence of punch in Newcastle. The Parra forwards are not terrible, they all do their job but they have no teeth.

They’re too workmanlike. There’s nothing outside the ordinary. J’maine Hopgood has been their only forward who upsets the applecart but the Maroons representative is unlikely to play again this year due to back surgery.

There’s nothing to come back to at club level anyway – with just four wins from 15 outings, the Eels will do well from this point onwards just to avoid the wooden spoon.