RAIDERS END KNIGHTS WINNING RUN
Tony Delany
2008-08-17
The Coal & Allied Newcastle Knights have been defeated at the hands of an enthusiastic Canberra Raiders outfit 38-18 in their Round 23 NRL clash at Canberra Stadium in front of 12,206 spectators.
The Raiders played an up tempo style of Rugby League based around a game plan of quick play the balls in attack and a quick speed of line in defence which shut down Newcastle's attacking options and allowed the home side to control the tempo of the match.
The Raiders displayed their ability to attack at long range in the fourth minute when Canberra pivot Terry Campese jinked on his own fourty metre line and sold a dummy to Newcastle's left edge defence to get himself into space and draw Kurt Gidley in and give a pass to Colin Best to score the opening try of the match.
Both sides were dogged by early handling errors in the opening ten minutes with the Raiders bombing two tries early and Newcastle's Junior Sau went close in the 7th minute only to lose the ball inches short of the tryline in a entertaining display of attacking end to end football in what is traditionally a high scoring affair between the two sides.
The Raiders went up a gear and were able to gather momentum through quick play the balls and second phase play. Terry Campese crossed for the Raiders in the 16th minute when he burrowed over at close range after the Newcastle defence was stretched through continued ball movement from the home side with the Raiders putting it through seven sets of hands before the final pass to Campese was given to make it 10-0.
The Knights hit back in the 20th minute when Cory Patterson bust through the attempted tackle of Marc Herbert to get the visitors on the board at 12-6.
Newcastle's forwards were unable to slow down the Canberra intensity as the Raiders continued to power over the advantage line on the again off the back off quick play the balls through the middle of the ruck. Newcastle were repeatedly penalised for play the ball infringements by referee Ben Cummins wish seemed to frustrate the Knights into further mistakes.
The Raiders turned pressure into points in the 36th minute when Joe Picker ran a great line off a Terry Campese pass to make it 18-6. Canberra then blew the match wide open when David Milne baet some lazy Newcastle defence scoring seconds before halftime taking it to 22-6 at the break.
Trevor Thurling scored off a Marc Herbert grubber just minutes after halftime to take the game away from the Knights at 28-6. The visitors problems were then compounded when David Milne scored his second try of the match in the 61st minute making it 34-6.
Newcastle were able to score twice through Cooper Vuna and Jesse Royal to give the scoreline some respectability. The Raiders crossed on fulltime through Neville Costigan giving the Raiders an emphatic 38-18 victory and keep their finals hopes alive.
Newcastle coach Brian Smith refused to be drawn into discussion about his sides final hopes after the match and praised Canberra's efforts saying that he was surprised that Newcastle were able to stay in the match after such a strong start from the home side.
Newcastle will look to keep their finals hopes alive when they take on the North Queensland Cowboys in a crunch game at Energy Australia Stadium next Saturday night.
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