CANBERRA RAIDERS 28 ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS 24
IAN HOWE, GIO Stadium, Saturday
CANBERRA have moved into standalone leadership of the NRL competition after this hard-fought victory over the Dragons in a thrilling clash in the nation’s capital.
They were missing Josh Papali’i, who has been called up into the Queensland squad for Wednesday’s State of Origin game, with Hudson Young also absent with the Blues, while the Dragons were missing Maroon Valentine Holmes.
Two players who were present were Jed Stuart for the Raiders and Kyle Flanagan for the Dragons, the sons of their respective coaches.
The game was fast-paced from the start, with the Dragons unlucky not to take the lead when they moved the ball quickly to the right for Tyrell Sloan to cross, but referee Gerard Sutton called a dubious forward pass from Moses Suli.
The Raiders took the lead with a quarter of the game gone when Xavier Savage squeezed in at the right corner from a smart offload by Kaeo Weekes, with Jamal Fogarty converting from the touchline.
They thought they had gone further ahead after a massive spiral kick by Fogarty wasn’t caught by Clint Gutherson but Trey Mooney was ruled offside after he touched down.
Sloan then scored on the right from an assist by Suli, although Flanagan couldn’t add the goal.
When the Dragons earned a penalty for a crusher tackle by Kaeo Weekes on Blake Lawrie his goal levelled the scores.
But just before the interval Weekes picked up a loose ball near his own line from a Flanagan kick and ran the length of the field down the right touchline to score a converted try.
And he scored his second try almost immediately after half-time with Fogarty’s kick from touch making it 18-6 before former Wigan star Morgan Smithies scored his first NRL try in his 40th game after a high Fogarty kick.
At 24-6 the game looked buried for the Dragons, but on 58 minutes Jayden Su’A scored for them when they kept the ball alive and he followed up his own kick to touch down.
Weekes then scored his hat-trick try with another length-of-the field effort as he caught a Flanagan bomb and burst through Damien Cook’s initial challenge, beating numerous attempted tackles for a 16-point lead.
The Dragons refused to concede, however, and Gutherson kicked from deep to the right for Sloan to pick up a favourable bounce and go outside Weekes for a great try that Flanagan converted.
And Flanagan then scored a try from a kick inside by Sloan, converting his own try to put four points between the teams for the final five minutes.
But they couldn’t take the final step to win the game and in the last minute their veteran forward David Klemmer was sinbinned for a dangerous tackle.
GAMESTAR: Kaeo Weekes scored a hat-trick and is clearly a superstar.
GAMEBREAKER: Morgan Smithies’ try put the Raiders 18 points ahead and the writing was on the wall.
MATCHFACTS
RAIDERS
1 Kaeo Weekes
2 Jed Stuart
3 Matt Timoko
4 Sebastian Kris
5 Xavier Savage
6 Ethan Strange
7 Jamal Fogarty
8 Corey Horsburgh
9 Tom Starling
10 Joseph Tapine
11 Simi Sasagi
12 Zac Hosking
13 Morgan Smithies
Subs (all used)
14 Owen Pattie
15 Noah Martin
16 Trey Mooney
17 Ata Mariota
Tries: Savage (20), Weekes (38, 42, 61), Smithies (48)
Goals: Fogarty 4/5
DRAGONS
1 Clint Gutherson
2 Sione Finau
3 Moses Suli
4 Corey Allan
5 Tyrell Sloan
6 Lyhkan King-Togia
7 Kyle Flanagan
8 Emre Guler
9 Damien Cook
10 David Klemmer
12 Jaydn Su’A
17 Michael Molo
13 Jack De Belin
Subs (all used)
14 Jacob Liddle
15 Loko Pasifiki Tonga
18 Blake Lawrie
19 Viliami Fifita
Tries: Sloan (33, 66), Su’A (58), Flanagan (73)
Goals: Flanagan 4/5
Sin bin: Klemmer (80) – dangerous tackle
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Raiders: Kaeo Weekes; Dragons: Tyrell Sloan
SCORING SEQUENCE: 6-0, 6-4, 6-6, 12-6; 18-6, 24-6, 24-12, 28-12, 28-18, 28-24
Penalty count: 4-6
Half-time: 12-6
Referee: Gerard Sutton
Attendance: 15,932