The Canberra Raiders defeated the Western Suburbs Magpies 32-18 to mark the club’s first appearance in the NSW Cup since 2007.
The Western Suburbs Magpies opened the scoring in the first two minutes with front-rower Edenn Rogers-Smith crashing over adjacent to the uprights. Jock Madden successfully converted to give the Magpies an early 6-0 lead.
The Canberra Raiders bounced-back with a great back-line play putting centre Harley Smith-Shields over in the corner. The Magpies took the lead 6-4 over Raiders in the opening ten minutes.
The Raiders continued their momentum with an incredible effort from new recruit Albert Hopoate who crossed the line for a try in the corner. The try was converted by halfback Sam Williams, giving the Raiders a 10-6 lead.
Western Suburbs hooker Jake Simpkin caught the Raiders defence off-guard who dummied and scored under the posts with ten minutes remaining in the first half. This gave the Magpies a 12-10 lead heading into half-time.
The Raiders opened the scoring in the second half through some amazing play from hooker Tom Starling who broke the Magpies defence to put teammate Caleb Aekins in for a try. Brad Schneider converted to give the Raiders a 16-12 lead.
Raiders five-eighth Matt Frawley set-up winger Semi Valemei with a great mid-field chip kick. Valemei went up above the defence and came down to score a great indiv
More:
https://www.raiders.com.au/news/2021/03/14/raiders-return-to-nsw-cup-with-a-bang/
Topic: Raiders return to NSW Cup with a bang
