Sydney and Parramatta were dealt “extreme” conditions for their NRL clash at Allianz Stadium on Friday night.
Heavy rain in Sydney gave the stadium’s drainage a serious workout for the clash between the finals-bound Roosters and struggling Eels.
Water above the surface was inches deep, making for a slippery affair.
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So horrific were the conditions early in the game, the referee considered moving the first scrum of the game out of the water and into and less affected area.
“This is extreme weather,” Billy Slater said on Nine before kick-off.
When Roosters star Spencer Leniu scored in the 10th minute, it almost looked like he was splashing around in a swimming pool.
“Spencer Leniu! Slipping, sliding and scoring!” Mat Thompson said on Nine.
“Spencer’s nearly drowned,” Thompson then joked.
Fans were split in their reactions to the conditions.
“So funny seeing NRL fans complaining about the muddy surface. Rugby league was born in Northern England and was made for these conditions. It’s beautiful,” one said.
Rain during the game didn’t help, but that was no excuse for an NRL-quality ground, according to some.
“Yes, it poured for 15 minutes at Allianz. But there must be serious issues with drainage at that ground. It’s still a swimming pool at halftime,” another fan said.
There was some drama early with Roosters lock Victor Radley placed on report in the seventh minute.
Despite the discrepancy on the ladder between the two sides, the feeling in the game didn’t die down.
Eels veteran Clint Gutherson followed Radley into the books soon after, for collecting James Tedesco in the head with his leg.
But they still had 13 men on the field until Wiremu Greig copped 10 minutes in the bin for an unnecessary high hit on Connor Watson.
The Roosters made the most of their one-player advantage by scoring soon after Greig left the field, and it was an ominous sign for the rest of the game.
The Roosters are closing in on a top-four finish after Dom Young scored a hat-trick in their 38-14 thrashing of Parramatta.
The Roosters never appeared to get out of second gear once they overcame a sloppy start, feasting on the Eels’ leaky edges during two separate sin-binnings.
Easts are set to finish the weekend third on the NRL ladder with the competition’s best points differential.
Pending other results, they could be three points inside the top four at the end of round 24, and face no more top-eight sides across the last three rounds of the regular season.
Trent Robinson would have been pleased by his side’s renewed defensive vigour after giving up 64 points across the two games before the bye.
But their attacking prowess was on full show as well, Young shaking off a hamstring issue to confirm his first hat-trick of an up-and-down opening season in red, white and blue.
The Eels did themselves few favours and struggled to contain the best attacking side in the NRL, conceding four of their seven tries while reduced to 12 men.
Parramatta first lost Greig to the sin bin after the prop made shoulder contact with Watson’s head in the first half and then needed to contend without Brendan Hands following a professional foul just after the break.
By the time Greig came back on after 25 minutes, Young and Daniel Tupou had crossed on either edge, ballooning the lead to 18 points to give the 16th-placed Eels a mountain to climb.
Watson left the field for a head injury assessment after the shot from Greig and was unable to return so will miss next Sunday’s away clash against Gold Coast.
James Tedesco’s 60-metre runaway try was a particular highlight once the Eels regained the full complement.
Just after Greig returned, the captain poked between Will Penisini and Sean Russell before selling Gutherson a dummy so convincingly that the Eels fullback slipped over in one of the many pools of water that had formed on the pitch.
In his 100th NRL game, Sitili Tupouniua chased a Sam Walker chip kick through to the line to help extend the lead to 30 points while Hands was in the bin.
Young bagged his third on an overlap as Hands watched from the sidelines before earning an early mark in the final 10 minutes.
Gutherson toiled hard and put Kelma Tuilagi over for the try that opened the Eels’ account in the second half, but the inspirational skipper could not prevent Parramatta from missing 57 tackles.
Joey Lussick darted out of dummy-half to put a little more respectability on the scoreboard in the final minute of the game.
– With AAP