Eels claim thrilling last minute Premier League win

Match SummaryThe Parramatta Eels have taken out the 2007 Premier League title with a thrilling last minute victory over the North Sydney Bears at Telstra Stadium this afternoon.

The Eels led 10-4 at half time. North Sydney opened the scoring after five minutes with Yileen Gordon scoring a powerful try. The missed conversion from Williams left the Bears up 4-0.

It wasn’t long before the Eels responded, with Justin Horo running onto a superb pass to score and put the Eels up 6-4 after nine minutes. The half remained scoreless until the 35th minute after that point, with the Bears looking like the better team but with handling errors costing them dearly.

The Eels pushed out to a 10-4 lead with Blake Green throwing a superb cut out pass to Iwi Hauraki. The Bears had an attacking opportunity just before the break, but again the ball was dropped.

Seven minutes after half time the Bears pulled back to 10-8 with Troy Boston chasing a pinpoint kick to score in the corner.With 17 minutes to go, Parramatta were penalised for a strip and the ensuing penalty goal from Joe Williams levelled the match at 10-all.

Norths then added four more points a minute later, with Reece Simmonds latching onto a cut out pass from David Peachey. Joel Reddy levelled the game back up at 14-all with a superb individual try, running past the entire Norths team to dot down in the corner.

After both teams missed field goals, Joe Williams put the Bears up 15-14 with three minutes to go.

In what is becoming a Premier League tradition, the match was not done with. Norths were penalised for a strip, and the Eels turned down the penalty goal.

The move – which took a 50/50 kick into a try scoring opportunity or an easy field goal opportunity paid off, with Weller Hauraki crashing over to score the match winning try with 15 seconds to go.

Aaron Wood added the conversion as the Eels ran out 20-15 winners, claiming their third Premier League title in a row.