The short of it? The Eels belted the Sharks off the park on both sides of the ball. We ran harder and tackled harder for the entire game and it showed on the scoreboard.
The long of it? We played a highly disciplined game and got a bit of love from the referees for once which allowed us to forge ahead.
Our forward pack was immense today. Oregon Kaufusi made at least 3 big defensive plays while on clean up duty, including a huge try saving effort at the end to cut off any hope of an unlikely comeback. Denzal Tonise shifted from hooker to prop before kickoff and troubled the Sharks all day with rugged gains after the initial contact. Sean Keppie came off the bench as a result of the Tonise/Mahoney shuffle and played a nice hand scoring a try. Ray Stone was the other stand out forward through the middle. He had a bad missed tackle in the lead up to the opening try of the game but beyond that he ran hard and just hammered every Shark that came his way.
Salesi Faingaa was equal parts powerful workhorse and deft play maker on the right edge. He set up a gorgeous try for Dane Aukafolau in the second half with a brilliant around-the-corner offload. Speaking of the elder Aukafolau, the Sharks struggled to deal with his sheer physical stature down their left edge. He picked on Kyle Flanagan to score the first try.
Our spine had a pretty indifferent game I reckon funnily enough. Reed Mahoney (pronounced Marney) was the exception here. He played the full 80min and worked the markers over throughout the entire game. We didn't see some of his play-making flair today but he kept us rolling forward. Troy Dargan had a mixed bag. He scored a nice solo try running at the goal line and distributed the ball well either side of the ruck but his kicking options (along with those of Dean Matterson) were largely uninspiring.
The undisputed star of the day was Greg Leleisiuao though. He was everywhere and in everything. We spread the ball early to the right just so he could bully the left edge of the Sharks while he also popped up on our left edge just to wreak that much more havoc. We worked a cute set play on the last tackle in front of the posts to get him over for his first try while he just brushed through his opposite from short range for his second.
We played with defensive intent rarely seen in the NYC I thought. Loads of line speed and some ferocious contact. I thought Luke Burt did quite well to get a middling team into the finals last year and he has done every bit as well in 2017 to get this young team coached up to such a standard.
