Moses dangerous as Eels beat Souths in NRL

Mitchell Moses has proven a change can be as good as a holiday as he piloted Parramatta to a 22-16 win over South Sydney on Friday night.

Just two weeks into his Eels’ career, Moses battled a hip injury to have a hand in two of Parramatta’s tries and looked dangerous every time he touched the ball at ANZ Stadium.

It was a far cry from his performance against the Rabbitohs at the same ground exactly a fortnight ago.

On that occasion Fox Sports Stats showed he failed to run the ball once in 28 possessions as the Tigers decided there was no value in keeping him for the rest of the season and granted him an early release.

But on Friday night he couldn’t be accused of lacking interest or involvement, while playing at halfback.

He inserted himself into the game in the sixth minute when he took the line on and put Tepai Moeroa through a gap to score.

Moses’ combination with stand-in five-eighth Clinton Gutherson also improved on last week, as the Eels No.6 also set up two tries – including a 60-metre effort out of dummy-half for winger Semi Radradra that gave the Eels an 18-0 half-time lead.

Then as Souths threatened to work their way back into the game at 18-6 in the final 20 minutes, Moses again took charge.

After he ran the ball on the last and spread it to the right, winger Josh Hoffman planted the ball in the corner despite having his entire body in the air and over the sideline.

Meanwhile, Souths looked every bit the side that had played in Perth just five days ago, losing their eighth game in nine years in the week immediately following the annual cross-country trip.

Cody Walker had a difficult night at the back as he let three bombs bounce and fumbled a simple Gutherson first-half grubber to allow Beau Scott to score.

Robbie Farah had a solid, but not spectacular, display at hooker just a week after being overlooked for the NSW Origin side.

It took until the 49th minute for the Rabbitohs to score when Angus Chrichton went the length of the field to score, before Alex Johnston scored two late tries to flatter the Bunnies’ losing margin.

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