A fresh-faced Canberra Raiders have defeated the Cronulla Sharks in comprehensive fashion with 38-28 victory, which temporarily moves them inside the top four.
Sam Williams led from the front as captain with a personal tally of 14 points, with the Raiders featuring six players from last year’s Jersey Flegg Grand Final and three debutants.
The win means the Raiders move into the top four momentarily as they wait for the result from the Parramatta game against the Wests Tigers, with an Eels loss giving the Raiders a double chance.
An error from the Sharks after a long kick from Matt Frawley allowed the Raiders a chance to draw first blood within the first five minutes and they would make no mistake.
Dunamis Lui would cap off his strong start to the game by barging over from close range via crash ball from Tom Starling. Stand-in captain Sam Williams would make no mistake with the conversion to give his side a 6-0 lead.
Cronulla would hit back almost immediately, Ronaldo Mulitalo looked to be held up in the process, but referee Ashley Klein referred the decision to the bunker where they would eventually rule it as a try. The subsequent conversion was waived away, and the scores remained 6-4 to the Raiders.
The Raiders almost extended their lead after a heroic play by Harley Smith-Shields to tap a grubber back into find an unmarked Semi Valemei, but it was overruled as Smith-Shields was already out.
The Raiders did not have to wait long after that to score, Williams saw the Cronulla winger off his wing and put in a perfect grubber where Nick Cotric would ground the ball for his 12th try of the season. Williams would add the extra two which gave the Raiders a 12-4 lead.
Cronulla were throwing plenty at the Raiders line, but Tom Starling would clean up a grubber and run down 60 metres down the field, which would be the platform for the next four pointer.
Starling was again in the thick of the action and smartly scooted out of dummy half to score under the post. The Raiders would extend their lead to 14 with just over 15 minutes remaining in the half.
More:
https://www.raiders.com.au/news/2020/09/26/nrl-match-report-young-raiders-see-off-sharks/
Topic: NRL Match Report: Young Raiders see off Sharks
