RAIDERS CLAIM MASSIVE SCALP
CANBERRA has continued its giant killing run by putting a sizeable dent in South Sydney’s minor premiership hopes with an inspired 24-12 victory.
Six days after upsetting the Sydney Roosters, the Raiders overcame a 12-0 deficit to overrun the Rabbitohs at GIO Stadium and secure their 10th win of the NRL season.
Anthony Seibold’s men dominated the opening 25 minutes.
But the turning point was South’s Jason Clark being sin binned for a professional foul after 53 minutes – Raiders centre Michael Oldfield ran in his second try almost immediately.
The visitors never really recovered as the Raiders rode a wave of momentum to continue their late-season resurgence while South Sydney remains third. Canberra had a couple more attacking threats when having a man advantage, but it didn’t hit the front until veteran Sia Soliola crossed with 16 minutes to go.
Star winger Nick Cotric sealed the upset by scoring a brilliant individual try with eight minutes to go, which halfback Sam Williams converted. It wasn’t the try-fest many expected from a game between the two best attacking teams in the competition, with the Rabbitohs going into halftime leading 12-4. After being on the end of some heartbreaking defeats during the past two year, the Raiders’ end to the season will give supporters hope for a return to finals football in 2019.
Coach Ricky Stuart said post-match the Raiders were not far off the best teams.
“I’m very excited about the quality of the football and the way we won over the last two weeks,” Stuart said.
“I know we’ve got it in us and we’ve got to do more of it for our fans and for us.” A positive for the Rabbitohs was an outstanding return after two months on the sidelines from a broken hand for captain Greg Inglis, who scored a try midway through the first-half.
But Seibold couldn’t help but be disappointed.
“It was going to be a challenging game, the Raiders were outstanding last week so we were prepared for their best,” Seibold said.
“We’re disappointed to lose this afternoon but we’ve got great confidence in what we’ve done so far this year.” Souths have just five days to turn it around for their final regular season game with Wests Tigers at ANZ Stadium on Thursday night.