Dylan Brown pulled off one of the best performances of his short career to pilot Parramatta to a 14-12 win over Cronulla at a waterlogged Kogarah Oval.
In atrocious conditions that left players sliding everywhere and the ball stopping dead in on-field water puddles, Cronulla lost despite scoring three tries to two.
Brown and Sharks counterpart Shaun Johnson both put on wet-weather masterclasses, with the Kiwis dominating the match in the most difficult circumstances.
Mitchell Moses was also influential for the Eels, using the rain-soaked surface brilliantly to force five line dropouts with his short kicking game.
After the Eels led 12-4 early in the second half courtesy of a Brown try and try assist, Johnson almost gave the Sharks the win in a chaotic four minutes.
Having kicked for Jesse Ramien for the Sharks’ first try, he put a juggling Ronaldo Mulitalo over for their next with a cut-out ball to make it 12-8.
From the next set he kicked a 40-20 as Eels fullback Clint Gutherson let the ball go out.
It put Cronulla on the attack and allowed Johnson and Will Kennedy to find Mulitalo to go back against the grain and beat three defenders to score
But Johnson’s errant goalkicking from the sideline was to prove costly.
With scores locked at 12-12 and 11 minutes to play, Braden Hamlin-Uele was penalised for hitting Reagan Campbell-Gillard off the ball and the Eels kicked clear.
The Sharks halfback then coughed up the last chance to claim the match, fumbling his own short grubber in the last minute.
Earlier, Brown had shown experience well beyond his 20 years’ of age.
He got the game’s first try when he fooled the Sharks’ goal-line defence, dummying left before darting over from dummy-half in the 19th minute.
The five-eighth’s superb day continued after the break when he dummied his way to the line and offloaded for Kane Evans to score.
The win moves Parramatta back to third on the ladder, while Cronulla are still eighth but two points clear of ninth.