Raiders notch up two shocks on the trot20 May 2011, 9:44 pmThe Raiders have chalked up their second win on the bounce, shocking the Bulldogs 18-12 in spite of an error-strewn but hearty performance in their round 11 clash in Canberra.
Tries to Joel Thompson, Reece Robinson and Joe Picker sealed the win for the hosts before holding off a late surge in which Canterbury ran in two tries in five minutes.
Canterbury looked to have Canberra's number for much of the match, dominating in territory and possession, but somehow contrived to concede 10 unanswered first-half points before losing even more ground straight after the restart.
To rub further salt in the Bulldogs' wounds, prop Aiden Tolman limped off early in the second half with a suspected medial ligament injury that could see him out for a few weeks at least.
The Raiders looked to have confirmed the win with its best play of the match as Ben Barba raced back to prevent a 40/20, only to bat the ball back into the path of Picker to go over for his 15th career try.
Canberra looked to weather the Bulldogs onslaught, with a superb defensive performance from Shaun Fensom who finished the match with a mammoth 60 tackles.
Nathan Massey also deputised well for NSW Origin full-back Josh Dugan, showing tremendous courage under fire when taking a high ball on his try-line before getting smashed by David Stagg.
After the match Raiders captain Alan Tongue lauded his side's defensive effort and a perfect result to follow up last week's win over Melbourne.
"One win [against the Storm] wasnt going to make a season - I know we put a lot of effort in there, we took a lot of confidence out of it, but we needed to back it up," he told Grandstand.
"We talked about it all week, we needed to walk the walk tonight and we come out here and we did that.
"Our defence on the line, I think we went in at half-time there and we only had one or two good ball sets down on their try-line.
"Reecey [Robinson] scored that intercept try to give us a lead at half-time, but defensively we just kept turning up for each other with that effort and attitude which was displayed last week and that's what won us the game."
Barba rued his side's missed opportunities but also joined in the praise for the Raiders' defence.
"It was disappointing, especially after how much ball we had - we should have capitalised on all that but we couldnt get it tonight," he said.
"We've had slow starts [this season], we started well tonight but just couldn't break the defence; they must have worked really hard during the week."
But the Bulldogs' comeback was on when on 65 minutes, an incisive run from Frank Pritchard cut through the defence on the angle before popping a pass to Josh Morris who bundled over the line for the visitors' first points.
The Raiders' Josh McCrone tried to put his side further ahead but hit a shocking field goal attempt, shanking the ball to the posts' right just 10 metres from the line.
That mistake would have led to a few butterflies in stomachs for Canberra as the NRL's top try-scorer, Ben Barba, punished the slip up to draw the scores to within six points.
Greg Eastwood, set up again by Pritchard, muscled his way through on 70 minutes to feed Barba, who raced past two defenders to notch up another try for his campaign.
But the comeback was halted after debut hooker Josh Reynold was penalised for a swinging arm, allowing Croker to slot home a penalty which ultimately saw the Raiders home.
The Bulldogs had statistically outplayed their hosts despite trailing 10-0 at half-time - an effort which included an overwhelming 31-1 count in their favour of tackles in the opposition 20.
Canterbury imposed itself physically early on through Jamal Idris, fresh from his State of Origin snub, who let loose on the Raiders defence in the first half, tossing Massey aside like a ragdoll before shunting Dane Tilse to the ground.
But Canberra struck first blood on the scoreboard after a smart catch from Picker off McCrone's high ball to keep the ball alive for the Raiders, before a series of hand-offs found Thompson on the right to slide through for the try.
The Bulldogs looked to recover with a monopoly on territory and possession but typical to the match's form, Canberra's Robinson popped up to score on the 26th minute completely against the run of play.
The winger spotted a loose pass headed Idris's way to intercept, breaking Canterbury's line to canter 30 metres to put the Raiders into double digits.
Canberra: 20 (J Thompson, R Robinson, J Picker tries; J Croker 2 cons, 2 pens)
Bulldogs: 12 (J Morris, B Barba try; S Turner 2 cons)
Source: Tag: Rugby League - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Topic: Raiders notch up two shocks on the trot
