It was red faces all around for Wests Tigers in Canberra, as the Raiders hammered them 46-6 to register their first victory of the season.
Wests recovered from Chris Lawrence spilling the ball from the kick-off to stand up to the big Canberra side. And 11 minutes into the action, winger David Nufoaluma took an intercept and ran almost the length of the pitch to score between the posts.
Nevertheless the Raiders struck back almost immediately with England internationals Josh Hodgson and Elliott Whitehead involved in a move that saw Kiwi Four Nations star Jordan Rapana over wide out on the right flank.
It was déjà vu after Tigers captain Aaron Woods went for a breather. A week earlier they had crumbled at this point against Penrith.
And just before the break, Canberra posted back-to-back tries within the space of two-and-a half minutes (to second-rower Josh Papalii and stand-off Blake Austin) to achieve a comfortable 18-6 lead.
The procession continued after half-time with Australian Schoolboys sensation Nick Cotric over for his first senior try. Four more touchdowns completed the humiliation
Raiders: 1 Jack Wighton; 2 Nick Cotric, 3 Jarrod Croker (c), 4 Joey Leilua, 5 Jordan Rapana; 6 Blake Austin, 7 Aidan Sezer; 8 Junior Paulo, 9 Josh Hodgson, 10 Shannon Boyd, 11 Josh Papalii, 12 Elliott Whitehead, 13 Luke Bateman. Subs: 14 Adam Clydsdale, 15 Sia Soliola, 16 Clay Priest, 17 Dave Taylor.
Tigers: 1 James Tedesco; 2 David Nofoaluma, 3 Kevin Naiqama, 4 Michael Chee-Kam, 5 Moses Suli; 6 Mitchell Moses, 7 Luke Brooks; 8 Aaron Woods (c), 9 Matt McIlwrick, 10 Ava Seumanufagi, 11 Sausao Sue, 12 Chris Lawrence, 14 Tim Grant. Subs: 15 Josh Aloai, 16 Joel Edwards, 17 Jack Littlejohn, 20 Kyle Lovett.
Full reports from all the weekend’s NRL games will feature in this week’s League Express
