Impressive Eels triumph despite Kieran Foran absence

Corey Norman and Brad Takairangi shone in the halves as Parramatta Eels shrugged off the absence of captain Kieran Foran to beat Canterbury Bulldogs 20-12 at ANZ Stadium.

Takairangi was switched from centre to five-eighth for Friday's match, with star half-back Foran having been granted indefinite leave by the Eels in order to deal with a personal matter.

The Bulldogs threatened to take advantage of Foran's unavailability by twice seizing the lead in the first half through tries from Curtis Rona and Josh Morris.

However, Takairangi touched down between those scores and a controversial Clinton Gutherson try on the stroke of half-time was followed up by Norman and Vai Toutai going over in the second period.

As a result, the Eels – who also overcame the loss of Tim Mannah and Michael Gordon to injuries – were able to complete a rare double over the Bulldogs and remain above their opponents in the NRL ladder.

A floated pass from Moses Mbye enabled Rona to open the scoring, but, after the former had seen a try chalked off due to accidental offside in the build-up, Takairangi responded with the aid of a wonderful Beau Scott offload.

Morris made the most of a two on one down the Bulldogs' right to put his side ahead once more, but Parramatta came back again – this time in contentious fashion.

An apparent forward pass from dummy half went unnoticed prior to Gutherson outpacing David Klemmer and brilliantly side-stepping full-back Will Hopoate for a fine individual try.

Parramatta then claimed the only points of the second half, Norman dummying over before Rona dropped a high kick from Takairangi, allowing Toutai to round off the scoring.