Inu stars as Eels thump hapless Roosters

Rookie New Zealand Test fullback Krisnan Inu has pushed his claims as Parramatta's long-term replacement for rugby-bound centre Timana Tahu after starring in his side's 28-10 win over the Sydney Roosters at Parramatta Stadium.

In only his second first-grade game, 20-year-old Inu - promoted into the centres from Premier League after a hamstring injury to Tahu - scored two tries in three minutes and set up another to spark the Eels towards a 22-0 half-time lead and a comfortable win over the NRL's cellar-dwellers.

The performance left Inu, a shock selection at fullback in New Zealand's Test loss to Australia last month, hopeful of filling the shoes of his idol Tahu.

"I look up to him every day, no matter what," Inu said.

"(To replace him) would a big thing, we'll just wait till the year comes and see what happens but the good thing is they've got confidence in me to fill his spot."

Inu got on the end of a clever Tim Smith kick to score his first NRL try in the sixth minute and was in again three minutes later after he bounced away from Roosters fullback Anthony Minichiello to plant the ball down out wide.

Scorer turned provider when Inu set up rampaging back-rower Nathan Hindmarsh in the 26th minute to take the Eels to a 16-0 lead.

Eric Grothe and Luke Burt also crossed for the Eels while substitute Ashley Harrison and centre Sam Perrett scored second-half consolation tries for the lacklustre Roosters, who had five players backing up from Thursday's City-Country match in Coffs Harbour.

Burt continued his excellent goal-kicking record, kicking four from five while halfback Smith was in great form, having a hand in all of the Eels' five tries.

The Eels snapped their two-game losing streak with the win and brought the Roosters crashing back down to earth following their 1000th ever win and first of the season against St George Illawarra on Anzac Day.

Roosters coach Chris Anderson said his side had undone all of their good work from the 18-4 win over the Dragons with an "awful" performance.

"We didn't even compete in the first half, we didn't turn up to play footy and we learned a good lesson," Anderson said.

"Obviously last game, we played pretty good.

"We thought we were going to build on it, we trained good through the week and it just didn't happen.

"We worked really hard to get out of where we were and we just put ourselves back to square one tonight, that was the disappointing thing."

Parramatta coach Michael Hagan was delighted with his side's performance, particularly in the first half, and praised the efforts of young stars Inu and Smith.

"He's going to be a great player for Parramatta in the future and he's come in and done a great job tonight," Hagan said of Inu.

"I think (Smith) ran the team well and came up with some very good options for a couple of the tries we scored.

"His kicking game was good but he's probably still a little impatient at times but he's only 22 and that will only get better as he plays more games."

Inu will likely get more of a chance to shine in the centres, with Tahu likely to sidelined for several more weeks.

Source: AAP