LIVE NYC: WESTS TIGERS 18 RAIDERS 10Wests Tigers NYC Coach Todd Payten made several changes to his side. Sitaleki Akaoula replaced Bradley Soe on the wing with Soe moving to centres to replace Michael Kai.
Conner Taia moved to half-back to replace Jacob Miller. Inno Inosesio and Soni Paasi move on to the interchange bench.
Wests Tigers looked sharp early in the opening minutes through a left hand raid by full-back Kurtis Rowe and five-eighth Rudoph Manaia.
Rudolph put through a smart kick behind the line on the last tackle which saw the ball roll in-goal but left winger Sitaleki Akaoula couldn't ground the ball with one hand just before the dead ball line in the 8th minute.
Wests Tigers were finally rewarded in the 11th minute when winger David Nofoaluma showed great speed to dive over in the right corner for a 4-0 lead after good work by second-rower Joel Luani and centre Matt Evans.
Rudolph converted the try for a 6-0 lead after 13 minutes.
Canberra opened their account 3 minutes later when half-back Mitchell Cornish stepped past prop Nathan Brown to slice through 3 defenders to score. He failed to convert his own trry to leave Canberra trailing 6-4.
An inside ball by Cornish to lock Hayden Crockett from five metres out saw Canberra take an 8-6 lead. Cornish converted the try for a 10-6 lead after 26 minutes.
Some sharp hands saw forward Kyle Lovett crash his way over next to the posts in the 30th minute to get Wests Tigers back to 10-all. Rudolph converted the try for a 12-10 lead.
Two minutes later, Wests Tigers received a gift try when a grubber kick by Rudolph saw the Canberra winger fumble the ball on his line for second-rower Joel Luani to score. Rudolph converted the try for an 18-10 lead after 35 minutes.
Source: Tigers
Topic: First Half Report: Raiders V Tigers - Toyota Cup
