The Raiders have run out winners 40-32 over the West Tigers at Leichhardt Oval in a tightly fought and high scoring contest which saw two-try hauls to Brenko Lee and Cameron Booth, and a hat-trick to Tigers winger Oben Karwhin.
In what started as a very scrappy game where no team could gain the ascendancy, the match evolved into a quality arm wrestle in which the lead continued to swing back and forth.
The Green Machine opened the scoring on the back of a Brenko Lee grubber kick which allowed the Raiders to get a repeat set. This allowed the Raiders to spread the ball out wide for Cameron Booth who scored in the corner in the 19th minute giving the Raiders a 4-0 lead, after the conversion by Jordyn Ballard was unsuccessful.
The lead was short lived however after a mistake by the Raiders off the kick-off gave the Tigers great field position. Tigers Captain Matthew Woods made the Raiders pay for their mistake and the lock forward also converted his own try to give the Tigers a 6-4 lead.
The Tigers were once again to able to capitalise on ill-discipline after receiving a penalty against Lee. From this repeat set, Tigers winger Tom Satterthwaite scored and once again Woods was able to convert for an eight point lead.
The Green Machine were able to level the game up at half-time however after scoring two quick tries towards the end of the first half.
The first was scored by Jordan Aiono who dived on a grubber kick that was not properly dealt with by the Tigers defence, allowing the back-rower to dive on the ball. The second was scored shortly after by Lee after he was able to hold of multiple defenders and crash over. Unfortunately both conversions were missed by Ballard leaving the score 12-12 going into half-time.
The Tigers were able to grab the lead once again in the 48th minute through Karwhin. Originally the try was ruled out due to double movement but after a captain’s challenge by the Tigers the decision was reversed, however with the conversion missing the score remained at 16-12 to the Tigers.
There was a quick reply however with Taniela Moa crashing over for the Green Machine. Moa broke though the line and crashed over to bring the score back level and that was how the score would remain as Ballard’s poor luck with conversions continued.
The quick back-and-forth try scoring trend continued with Karwhin able to score his second after the Tigers found space down the left wing. The conversion by Woods was once again successful.
The Raiders then replied quickly by using quick ball movement. Brett Solomon put a great short pass through to Morgan Boyle who was able to score. Unfortunately, once again the conversion was unsuccessful.
A quick break by the Tigers allowed them once again to reclaim the lead. The Tigers hooker Jacob Liddle sidestep his way through the Raiders defence to score under the post allowing for an easy conversion for Woods who repaid the favour.
The Raiders pulled the score back to 28 all after crossing in the 68th minute through Charlie Mackenzie who crashed over the line off a Zac Woolford short ball. The conversion was successful by Woolford.
Back-to-back tries for the first time in the match for the Raiders allowed them to snare the lead in the game.
The first to Booth who crossed for his second after Ballard made a break down the wing and passed the ball back on the inside. The second went to Lee who also scored his second of the day after crashing over in the corner. Both tries were converted by Woolford for a 40-28 lead for the Raiders.
A conciliation try for Karwhin, his third of the game, brought the scoreline back to eight points right on full-time and that’s where the scoring ended after the conversion was missed.
Canberra Raiders 40 (Tries: Booth 2, Lee 2, Aiono, Moa, Boyle, MacKenzie; Conversions: Ballard 0/5, Woolford 3/3) def. West Tigers 32 (Tries: Karwhin 3, Woods, Satterthwaite, Liddle; Conversions: Woods 4/5 Marshall-King 0/1)
