St. George Illawarra have beaten the Canberra Raiders in golden point to win 16-12 at Jubilee Oval on Thursday night.
Despite Jarrod Croker overtaking David Furner’s record as the club’s all-time leading point scorer, the Raiders couldn’t overcome a poor first half.
The Dragons started the stronger of the two sides in what was an odd spectacle due to a power outage in the area.
Running into the lit end of the field, Tyson Frizell scored for the Dragons, capitalising on consecutive offloads by the Dragons in the previous play.
Earlier in the match, Joey Leilua crossed the line but knocked the ball on in the process of grounding it.
The Raiders were dealt a blow two minutes from halftime when Shaun Fensom was forced off the field due to a left shoulder injury. Although he was able to return to the field late in the second half, he was taken off again before full time.
Despite entering the sheds at half time only one try down, the Raiders, were guilty of committing basic handling errors which prevented the side gaining momentum.
Ten minutes into the second half, the Dragons were awarded a penalty in front of the posts. Opting to kick for goal, Widdop made no mistake to give the Dragons an 8-0 lead.
The Raiders hit back quickly, though. A linebreak from Edrick Lee put the team on the front foot before the ball shifted quickly to the right edge where Jordan Rapana scored in the corner. Croker kicked the difficult touchline conversion to join David Furner as the Raiders’ all-time leading point scorer.
However, the Dragons preserved their lead via Tim Lafai. The Raiders’ right edge defence was drawn into the middle of the field before the Dragons quickly passed the ball to Nightingale. With the defenders drawing in on the New Zealand international, Nightingale threw a spectacular offload to Lafai who scored.
Edrick Lee found space down the eastern touchline before offloading to captain Jarrod Croker who scored a try to claim Furner’s old record for his own. The following conversion locked up the scores with two minutes remaining.
Sezer’s field goal attempt from 40 metres out didn’t have the distance and caused the game to go to golden point.
An eventful five minutes followed. An Aidan Sezer field goal attempt struck the posts and bounced safely for the Dragons.
At the end of the first period of golden point, the Raiders chanced their arm in running the ball after the siren. However, a speculative pass was intercepted by Euan Aitken, who scored to win the game for the Dragons.
Dragons 16 (Tries: Frizell, Lafai, Aitken Conversions: Widdop 1/2 Penalties: Widdop 1/1) defeated Raiders 12 (Tries: Rapana, Croker Conversions: Croker 2/2)
