Hayne inspires Eels to victory - NRL Premiership - Fox Sports


Parramatta courageously fight back from 22-0 down to defeat Penrith

July 17, 2010

Parramatta superstar Jarryd Hayne scored one brilliant try and had a hand in four of his side's others as the Eels came back from 22-0 down to run down Penrith in a CUA Stadium thriller.

Hot on the heels of his three-try effort against North Queensland Cowboys last Monday, it was virtually Hayne 34-Penrith 28 as the champion fullback gave the blue and gold army hope of 2009 happening all over again.

They may not have quite resurrected 2010 yet, but the Eels came back from the dead to equal their best ever comeback, running in six tries after the Panthers had scored the first four.

Like a five-eighth, Hayne put Fuifui Moimoi and Jonathan Wright through holes for first half four-pointers.

In the second 40, he kept the ball alive for Wright's second and then laid on the grubber for Krisnan Inu to casually dot down.

But he saved the best for himself the 66th minute.

In one of the classiest individual tries since, well, his effort against St George Illawarra in last year's finals series, Hayne collected a bomb on his own 10m line, swerved past at least four defenders and sprinted away to score under the posts.

Parramatta's resurgence with last Monday's 36-24 win over the Cowboys had looked to have lasted one match after they fell behind to a red-hot Penrith.

There was little evidence of that form in the first 20 minutes of the western Sydney derby as the physical Panthers ran riot in front of a record crowd of 22,582.

Three tries from kicks and one from a Daniel Mortimer error had the Panthers flying before the momentum turned when Hayne stepped up.

Four unanswered tries saw the Eels hit the front 24-22 in the 54th minute before Hayne's solo effort took the breathing space to eight points.

Penrith made it a two-point game when Wade Graham collected the scraps of a Luke Walsh bomb in the 70th minute, but there was no denying the Parramatta momentum and Justin Horo iced the cake in the final minute.

Penrith are now officially in their first hiccup since rounds two and three, when they last suffered back-to-back losses.



For the Eels, it's deja vu.

“He's been very good and he was good tonight,” Eels coach Daniel Anderson said of Hayne.

“He's contributing and everyone else is contributing.

“There were a lot of players who played a lot better.

“He's extremely talented. I enjoy watching him.

“I enjoy watching those big, big plays.

“They are very exciting to watch and I see why the fans get pumped up.”

Anderson said he was “shell-shocked” at 22-0 down, and co-captain Nathan Hindmarsh agreed.

“I don't reckon I should be saying what I thought at 22-0,” Hindmarsh said.

“I had a bit of a laugh with Nath Cayless on the way off. We thought we were looking down the barrel at 40-0 at one stage.”

Panthers coach Matt Elliott said his side got distracted by their own early success.

“Our application in the first 30 minutes was spot on then we got distracted by the scoreboard,” he said.

“Our ability didn't diminish, our physical prowess didn't evaporate.

“We just changed what we were thinking about and got a pretty bad-tasting lesson.”