- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
The Canterbury Bulldogs have added another win to their ledger, defeating the Canberra Raiders by six points.
» Click here to read the full match report
Final score
Canterbury Bulldogs 16
Canberra Raiders 10
Both the Canterbury Bulldogs and Canberra Raiders will be hunting returns to the winners circle before representative round. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage of the match from 5:30pm (AEST).
After slow starts to the season, both the Bulldogs and Raiders put up three-game winning streaks before coughing them up in tight encounters last week.
Des Hasler’s side launched into their winning run off the back of their forward pack, eventually finding quality metres, as well as the return to form of five-eighth Josh Reynolds.
They clinched wins over the Broncos, Knights and Rabbitohs, before a besieged Tigers outfit pipped them at the post on Sunday when winger Kevin Naiqama snaffled a deflection to cross in the dying stages.
It means the ninth-placed Bulldogs are now tasked with overcoming the Raiders in order to get back into the top eight.
The Raiders’ winning run was ignited by electric right-edge pair Joey Leilua and Jordan Rapana, improvements on the error front and their forward pack making more metres.
The trio of wins saw the green machine claim wins over Parramatta, the Gold Coast and Warriors, before a Dylan Walker penalty goal in golden point delivered Manly a two-point victory in the nation’s capital last Friday night.
The loss meant the Raiders have slipped to seventh on the ladder.
In line-up news, the Bulldogs’ Matt Frawley is expected to move into the final 17 again and start on the bench, while Will Hopoate has been named on an extended bench and has a slim chance of returning from injury.
For Canberra, forward Clay Priest has been named on the Raiders’ bench ahead of his return from injury and Canberra are expected to be unchanged.
One of the most anticipated match-ups ahead of this clash is that of Bulldogs backs Josh Morris and Kerrod Holland and the Raiders’ Leilua and Rapana.
The size, strength and speed of the Canberra duo have made them the most potent backline pair in the competition, meaning Morris and Holland are set to have their hands full defending.
As the statistics stood ahead of Round 9, Rapana (equal-first with eight) and Leilua (equal-fifth with six) were both sitting in the top five for tries scored.
Rapana was also sitting clear in first for line-breaks with nine, while both occupied top-seven spots for tackle breaks, Rapana with 58 and Leilua with 34.
Prediction
Both forward packs are expected to continually boulder their respective sides into quality field territory, meaning the outcome of the match will depend largely on which side capitalises best in attack on the opposition’s try-line.
The Raiders are perched in second for points scored this season (200), while the Bulldogs are equal at the bottom with the Knights (122), meaning the visitors will likely have too many points in them. Expect the Raiders to prove too strong this evening.
Raiders by 14.
Join The Roar for live scores and coverage of the match, starting from 5:30pm (AEST).
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.