Jun 18th, 2017

Jun 18th, 2017

It was a brutal tackle that shut down the Dragons attack and left the commentary team gobsmacked.

With Parramatta up 12-4 but St George Illawarra on the attack, Eels winger Bevan French rushed in and hit dangerous centre Tim Lafai with a jolting tackle to turn the ball over and save the day.

"He's able to do this because everyone inside him does their job," Phil Gould said.

"The Dragons come across the field with all these second man plays again and (Michael) Jennings is able to get up and force a slowish pass from (Jason) Nightingale and Bevan French just picks him off really quickly."

The analysis of what had been an impressive piece of defence from French was quickly overtaken after something else caught the eye of Andrew Johns.

French was being congratulated by his teammates when Kenny Edwards decided that the obligatory pat on the back and hug just wasn't enough for what he had pulled off.

"Gus, did you see the way he congratulated Bevan French for a great tackle?" Johns asked.

"Have a look at this. What would players of your era think about this? Great tackle, well done, hang on, you're smelling good, you watch.

"He kissed him. He gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"If I was Bevan French I'd move from the wing."

Gould replied: "All I know is that my players in my era didn’t smell good. That's all I can tell you out of all that. I can't go there."

The Eels would go on to win the match 24-10 with new fullback Clinton Gutherson turning in an impressive performance after grabbing two tries.