Mitchell Moses struggles in first game for Parramatta
May 20, 201710:00pm
A RIPPING try from Jordan Rapana close to fulltime has given Canberra a scrappy 22-16 NRL win over Parramatta to end a worrying three-game slide. Scores were locked at 16-16 on Saturday night at ANZ Stadium, before Rapana produced one of his trademark diving efforts in a 73rd-minute right-side shift.
The match-winning play ensured Raiders captain Jarrod Croker celebrated his 200th-game milestone with a win, while also ruining Mitchell Moses’ first appearance as an Eel.
Moses had a mixed night after his mid-week move from the Wests Tigers, missing a game-high six tackles in a torrid night as he was targeted by Josh Papalii.
He said after the game his team should have won the game.
“I got security now and I know what I’m doing and I’m pretty safe,” he told Fox Sports after the game.
“I probably should have ended some of the sets a bit better but I’ll learn from that.
“I thought we stayed in it in that first half when we started off pretty slow. It was our goal to start fast but we didn’t do that.
Stranglehold.
Source:News Corp Australia
“We should have closed out that game.”
Papalii was arguably the Raiders’ best on his return from a club-imposed one- game ban for drink-driving, running 148 metres, busting five tackles and offloading three times.
The defeat for a clunky Eels outfit was compounded by injuries to Nathan Brown (ribs) and Michael Jennings (leg), who failed to finish the match.
After heading into halftime at 10-10, the Eels took the lead for the first time with Siosaia Vave’s 48th-minute try from close range, although the Raiders responded quickly through Blake Austin.
From there, the match seemed destined for golden point before Rapana’s aerial heroics, breathing life into a season that looked on shaky ground after a slow start.
In a mostly docile first half, the Raiders appeared set to stroll away with an easy win when Nick Cotric and Joey Leilua crossed from set pieces for a 10-0 lead by the 20th minute.
But back-to-back tries to Manu Ma’u and Jennings in the space of five minutes meant the game was tied at the break.
Ma’u claimed a lucky ricochet off his own grubber to score his team’s first points of the night, before Jennings finished off a tackle-busting run by Semi Radradra for their second.
"He will learn & he thinks he's safe", he needs to remember that he is being paid to win not learn & uncle B should advise him, no one is ever safe.
