The Canberra Raiders have put in a dominant second half display at GIO Stadium to claim a 12-point victory over the Canterbury Bulldogs, who will be absolutely kicking themselves after flying out of the gates.
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After the Bulldogs controlled all the first half action, the sense that things were going to turn was brought about by the fact that they only held a four-point lead going into the sheds.
In what were freezing conditions in Canberra, the Raiders managed to score a few tries against the run of play during the first half, a strong long range kicking game from Aidan Sezer and some big runs from their outside backs keeping them in the contest.
Jack Wighton did his best to throw the game away with a couple of silly errors at the back that led to Bulldogs tries, but Josh Reynolds, Moses Mbye and the rest of the Blues and White’s simply couldn’t run up a score, despite plenty of opportunities.
For the most part of the first half, their kicking game – led by Mbye and Reynolds – was exceptionally strong and their forwards dominated.
However, Canberra’s forwards put a new meaning to the word domination during the second half. Led by interchange impact player Joseph Tapine, and backed up by Shannon Boyd, Elliott Whitehead, Josh Hodgson and Luke Bateman they rolled up field with ease, scoring some very soft tries to put Canberra in the lead.
The scoring opened with Reimis Smith scoring on his first touch in the NRL out wide after just six minutes with Moses Mbye setting the piece.
The next try was through Aiden Tolman, crashing over off a delicate Curtis Rona grubber kick.
The Raiders would get themsleves on the board through Jordan Rapana after a beautiful shift to the right hand side and perfect flick pass from Leilua.
The Bulldogs extended their lead through Reimis Smith, scoring a second try out wide off a beautiful floating pass from Moses Mbye.
Right on the stroke of halftime the Raiders would hit back, landing a big blow through Joseph Leilua. With the Bulldogs right on the attack, there was an intercept from Jarrod Croker who ran 75 metres. A quick shift to the left saw Leilua outrun Sam Kasiano to score.
The second half started in similar fashion to the first – in that the Bulldogs were dominant. They spent a majority of the early exchanges parked on the Canberra line and it eventually led to a brilliant bit of footwork and speed from Moses Mbye to crash over and score.
That would be the end of the Bulldogs’ scoring though as the momentum reversed and the Raiders took over control. They took a while to find complete momentum, but with every passing minute the game continued to change and the Bulldogs just couldn’t match it.
Joseph Tapine would score his first try of the afternoon in the 58th minute from a quick play the ball. A simple one on one miss close to the line and there was no stopping him.
It would be another six minutes before Edrick Lee would go almost the length of the field to score on a kick return, and at that point as the scores tied Canterbury were looking incredibly fragile.
The very next set of six and the Raiders would role right up the ground Iosia Soliola crashing over.
After a back and forth ten minutes it would be another long range effort, set up by Jarrod Croker before Tapine scored his second against a stretched defensive line.
The Raiders with that make their mark in the top eight, while the Bulldogs continue to hang on, just outside the top four.
Today in Canberra though, it was the Raiders, coming home strongly against the Bulldogs for a 12-point victory.
Final score
Canberra Raiders 32
Canterbury Bulldogs 20
The Barry
Roar Guru
Pretty good game with some very good tries scored. The Raiders length of the field try before half time was a turning point. Dogs going in 14-4 or even 18 or 20-4 was very different. Des clearly wanted to protect some his younger players but they looked flat in the second half when they needed some good go forward. Dogs line defence was pretty soft as well at times. Tapine and Soliola strolled in for three tries in the second half.
ChubbzyK96
Guest
Raiders seem to be on fire every time Baptiste and Hodgson are both on the field. I think that and their fitness is their key, perhaps Hodgson and Baptiste could play the 80 with Hodgson a ball playing lock?
zim
Guest
Boyd, Vaughan and Fensom only punched out 30ish minutes each. Those numbers are way down on their norms. Especially for fensom. They weren't being saved. They had issues they should have been off the field for. Vaughan was forced to come back on for a very short stint when Eddy Lee did the hammy but he contributed nothing in that stint.
Alex L
Roar Rookie
Not meaning to knock the Raiders, but the Bulldogs utterly ran out of troops at the end in no small part due to reactive interchange use from Des Hasler; 1 interchange before half time and one at the break doesn't work so well when the team gets reduced to three bench players and neither the bench hooker or starting hooker can play effectively in the back row -- something Hodgson did a great job of the Raiders when Baptiste came on and he switched to lock. Tolman didn't get a rest at all and Graham got less than 10 minutes, while both are capable of big minutes, having near no rest left them too ineffectual in contact when the big units came back on for the Raiders.
Jimmmy
Guest
Good game. The raiders are building nicely. . Junior Pauolo to join the Raiders gives them a monster pack. The Raiders as always one of my favourite teams to watch. How did The Knights let Tapine go though ! Crazy stuff.