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Posted: 2019-06-29 04:31:15

Updated June 29, 2019 21:54:19

The Parramatta Eels have put a dent in Canberra's top-four ambitions, beating the Raiders in the Territory to bring a big Saturday of football to an end.

Earlier the Sea Eagles crushed the Titans at Robina and the Knights got the better of the Broncos in Newcastle.

More to come.

Eels v Raiders

Parramatta has stormed back from 16-0 down to claim a stunning 22-16 upset over Canberra in Darwin.

The Raiders roared to a three-try lead after half-an-hour on Saturday off the back of a dynamic first-half display from star five-eighth Jack Wighton.

And they still held a slender four-point lead with 18 minutes to go until Blake Ferguson brought the modest 5,391 crowd to life with a 70-metre intercept try.

A 67th-minute solo effort from Mitchell Moses sealed back-to-back Eels wins for the first time since the opening two rounds of the competition.

The victory lifts Parramatta back over the Wests Tigers into eighth on the ladder, while the fourth-placed Raiders will rue a missed shot at second spot.

Ferguson was among the Eels' best with two tries and running 149 metres, while prop Junior Paulo chipped in with 170 metres.

The signs were ominous for Parramatta from the moment Wighton put Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad through untouched in the fourth minute.

Wighton powered his way over from dummy-half soon after, before his line break resulted in Sebastian Kris soaring over Maika Sivo in the 32nd minute.

But the injection of the Eels' bench changed the contest.

Just as the Raiders looked to take a huge lead into the break, Manu Ma'u and Ferguson whittled the lead to four points with tries in the final three minutes of the half.

A shining light for Canberra in the first half, Wighton had a horror second period and finished with a game-high five errors.

On a sour note for the Eels, forward Peni Terepo was put on report for a swinging arm on Jordan Rapana in the first half that drew a bloody nose.

The crowd was the smallest in eight NRL games played in Darwin since 2012.

More pain for Broncos as Knights get the points

Anthony Seibold's experimental spine has backfired with Brisbane imploding in their 26-12 loss to the Knights in Newcastle.

After they were pegged as pre-season top four contenders, the Broncos could be in the bottom four by the end of the weekend following their third straight loss.

Seibold rolled the dice on Saturday when he moved playmaker Anthony Milford to full-back in a positional swap with Darius Boyd, but the bold gambit failing to have its intended effect.

Boyd — playing his first first-grade game at five-eighth — was quiet all night, running for just seven metres before being steamrolled by Jesse Ramien which allowed Mason Lino to score the match-winner in the 69th minute.

Despite having 44 tackles inside the Knights' 20-metre zone — compared to the Knights' 11 — they were still out-scored four tries to two and never really looked in the contest.

The Knights were dealt a massive blow when star Kalyn Ponga was ruled out an hour before kick-off with a calf injury which is threatening to rule him out of State of Origin III.

While Ponga's injury prompted a reshuffle, they lost little as Kurt Mann moved to fullback with the 26-year-old utility throwing the last pass for Edrick Lee's and Lachlan Fitzgibbon's tries as the home side burst out of the blocks.

Ponga insists he will be right for the Origin decider on Wednesday week while his potential replacement Lee was unfortunately ruled out of a possible Maroons' debut after suffering a suspected broken arm.

Knights and NSW prop David Klemmer put in a typical five-star performance his return from a fractured wrist, playing the opening 49 minutes, running for 196 metres and making 26 tackles.

The Knights smelt blood in the water at 18-0 up at halftime but couldn't have started the second-half in less impressive fashion.

Half-back Mitchell Pearce — who has been sized up for a NSW jumper — failed to make touch twice in the space of three minutes and prop James Gavet was dubiously sin-binned for a high shot on Andrew McCullough.

The Broncos made the most of the extra man via a Thomas Flegler fly.

And when Hymel Hunt spilled the ball seven metres from his own line, Kotoni Staggs crossed to make it an eight-point ball game.

But when Ramien ran through some feeble defence from Boyd, it killed off any threat of a Broncos fightback.

Sironen stars for Manly in milestone game

Manly's Curtis Sironen has marked his 100th appearance with a double as the Sea Eagles romped to 30-12 victory over the Gold Coast.

Sironen scored two close-range tries in the first half as Manly demolished the Titans in the first half at Robina to claim back-to-back road victories for the first time in 2019.

Jorge Taufua, Reuben Garrick, Moses Suli also scored for the Sea Eagles, who donned black armbands in honour of the three children who died in a house fire in Singleton earlier this week.

Philip Sami, a late inclusion after Dale Copley (calf) was ruled out pre-match, scored a consolation double for the Titans to add some gloss to the scoreline.

NSW stars Jake and Tom Trbojevic both played key roles in the win while Queensland captain Daly Cherry-Evans was an influential figure throughout.

Tom Trbojevic picked up 183 running metres and set up Garrick's try with a delicious cut-out pass.

His brother made 31 tackles and was a constant presence in Manly's attacking moves, offering an additional playmaking option for Des Hasler's men.

Cherry-Evans set up two of the Sea Eagles' tries and ran the game from halfback in the first 40 minutes.

The Titans, in captain Tyrone Roberts 150th match, were dreadful for most of the afternoon.

After opening the scoring through a Roberts' penalty the home team barely fired a shot in the first half as the Sea Eagles ran riot.

Sironen crossed in the eighth minute but his second four-pointer in the 27th opened the floodgates, with Garrick and Taufua adding two more tries before the break as Manly opened up a 20-2 half-time lead.

The Titans' woes were encapsulated in the 38th minute when Brian Kelly broke clear and fed AJ Brimson, who seemed destined for the tryline before stumbling and losing the ball.

Sironen was sin-binned for tackling Kelly without the ball in the aftermath but his absence had no impact, with the Sea Eagles extending their lead after halftime with a Garrick penalty conversion.

When Suli went over untouched after Kelly jammed out of defence to close down Tom Trbojevic in the 52nd minute, Gold Coast were being flattened.

Sami's double gave something for the home fans to cheer late on, but the Titans' 11th loss of the season will be a bitter pill for coach Garth Brennan to swallow.

NRL ladder

AAP

Topics: nrl, rugby-league, sport, australia, qld, robina-4226, brisbane-4000, nsw, manly-2095, newcastle-2300, parramatta-2150, act, canberra-2600

First posted June 29, 2019 14:31:15

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