Watch National Rugby League Live Online: Wests Tigers Vs. Parramatta Eels, Streaming From Australia

Can’t wait for football season? Check out the all-out action of American football’s hard-hitting cousin. Watch rough-and-tumble rugby league action live online, when the Australia National Rugby League streams a key Round 16 matchup, pitting the struggling Wests Tigers against the streaking Parramatta Eels, who will try to stretch their winning streak to four.

The injury-ridden Eels will get a boost from the comeback of 26-year-old forward Manu Ma’u, finally making his return from a broken arm suffered in the Eels Round 14 match of the 2014 season.

The Wests Tigers sit just one place off the bottom of the NRL ladder with a mere five wins from their 15 matches so far. And in the Monday Night Football matchup, the Tigers will be forced to make due without halfback Luke Brooks, who injured his shoulder making a tackle in last week’s loss to the Penrith Panthers.

To find out how to watch the Wests Tigers vs. Parramatta Eels National Rugby League game live online, see the final paragraph of this article. The match takes the NRL’s weekly Monday Night Football slot, getting underway at 7 p.m. at the 83,500-seat ANZ Stadium, formerly know as Stadium Australia, in Sydney.

That means the game starts at 5 a.m. Monday United States Eastern Time, 2 a.m. Pacific.

For fans unfamiliar with rugby league — a form or “code” of rugby played primarily in Australia — the game has many similarities with rugby union, the more popular version of the sport, and some key differences as well. But for first-time viewers, there will be only one difference that really matters.

Rugby league is more violent.

“The old adage goes that rugby union is a contact sport whereas rugby league is a collision sport,” wrote one expert, explaining how the two sports compare. “There is little doubt that monstrous two-man tackles or destructive smashing runs bouncing off hapless defenders is the very soul of the sport.”

The Eels currently sit in 12th place, four points in back of eighth-place Penrith. The top eight teams of the 26-game regular season qualify for the Finals Series, a four-week round of playoff games culminating in the annual NRL Grand Final, one of the most-watched single sports events in Australia and one which once drew a live attendance of more than 107,000.

To watch the West Tigers vs. Parramatta Eels National Rugby League Round 16 match live online from New South Wales, Australia, visit Fox Sports Go at this link, and log in with credentials from any major TV provider — or download the Fox Sports Go app to catch what promises to be a gritty, action-packed rugby league match on mobile devices.

[Image: Matt King/Getty Images]