Widders ire over crowd abuse

New Zealand 12 Parramatta 20

PARRAMATTA'S Dean Widders was almost struck in the head by a bottle last night as the Eels overcame a hostile environment and a desperate Warriors outfit to continue their bid for an amazing finals berth.Widders said he "felt" a bottle go by late in the second half and saw spectators dob in the culprit.

Coach Jason Taylor also accused Warriors second rower Awen Guttenbeil of twice baulking goalkicker Mark Riddell.

He said Guttenbeil waved his hands above his head, walked around, threw water bottles and sprayed water in the hooker's direction as he lined up a crucial shot at penalty goal during the second half.

Taylor also said his players were abused by the crowd as they left the field.

"I don't know if it was thrown exactly at me but it nearly hit me," Widders said of the bottle.

"Maybe half a metre, I could feel it go past.

"It was pretty fiery. Usually it's good when we come over here, but there were some idiots in the crowd.

"The good thing was, when it happened, we all sort of looked over and the ref looked over and people in the crowd were pointing out who it was."

Taylor said the adverse conditions his team faced last night made the win, his side's fourth in succession, all the more satisfying.

"The crowd here were just giving it to our boys as they walked off the field, swearing at them and everything," Taylor said.

"We'll take the two points. It's always satisfying when you come to Auckland and win but tonight we played against a team that were really desperate.

"They knew their season was on the line and I think their fans did too. I think that contributed to that (bottle throwing) incident in particular."

Parramatta found itself clinging to a six-point lead until Riddell's late penalty goal sealed the win.

Winger Jarryd Hayne's two tries in the opening nine minutes - taking him to 10 in eight matches - had a touch of luck to them as both came from dropped balls by the Warriors.

Second rower Nathan Hindmarsh made it 14-0, before Steve Price pegged a try back for the Warriors. But hard-running Eels centre Luke O'Dwyer crossed for Parramatta just short of half-time for an 18-6 lead that proved decisive.

The Warriors lost fullback Brent Webb to a groin injury in the warm-up, but coach Ivan Cleary wasn't looking for excuses.

"Execution-wise, we just couldn't get it together," Cleary said. "Early in the game it looked like it might get ugly (on the scoreboard) but we hung in."

NEW ZEALAND 12 (S Price G Rovelli tries; T Martin 2 goals)PARRAMATTA 20 (J Hayne 2 N Hindmarsh L O'Dwyer tries; J Hayne M Riddell goals)Referee: S Hampstead.Crowd: 14,499 at Mt Smart Stadium.