The Toyota Forklift Raiders proved too strong over a resilient St George-Illawarra Dragons side as Matt Timoko scored a double in 36-26 win.
The game brought about excitement throughout an 11 try thriller in Wollongong, with the Raiders sneaking into the top four for now.
Both teams were full of energy to open the game with the Dragons getting a bit too optimistic in the opening minutes of the game, giving away two early penalties to give the Raiders their first two attacking sets.
A breakaway run from Matt Timoko led a Raiders charge down the right edge, offloading to Jamal Fogarty before being brought down metres short of the line.
The Green Machine caught the Dragons out with a short side play that saw Jordan Rapana barrage over the line to open the scoring for the night.
In an attacking set for the Dragons, a well-placed kick from Jayden Sullivan over the top of the Raiders defenders saw Rapana display great presence of mind letting the ball run dead in goal to spark a seven-tackle set.
The Raiders made it the full length of the field off the next set ending it with a Matt Frawley kick to the corner and putting the pressure on defensively.
Coming out of their end, fullback Paul Turner coughed up the ball handing the Raiders another set on the Dragons try line.
As the set played out, Tapine got his hands on the ball early and instantly saw red, fending off four tackles to fight his way to the line and score his first try of the season.
Leading 12-0, the Raiders were holding on defensively dealing with the high balls from the Dragons halves effectively.
Man of the minute, man of the hour pops up once again, with Timoko making a remarkable linebreak through the middle of the field only to be brought down debut by Turner.
An eyes-up play down the right edge again saw Elliott Whitehead and Rapana link up with Timoko on the wing who displayed his brute strength once again breaking three tackles to score the Raiders third of the night.
The Dragons threatened with five minutes left in the first half with Talatau Amone falling short off the try line, but a quick play the ball gave Mikaele Ravalawa the Dragons first points of the night.
As the first half was coming to a close, the Raiders didn’t ease up as Fogarty put in a well-placed grubber kick to the goalposts which was picked up by Matt Frawley to score.
The Raiders headed into the sheds with a 24-6 lead but were immediately put under pressure having to defend three sets on their line eventually holding out the Dragons’ attacking barrage.
As the game resumed for the second half, the Dragons started gaining some momentum, scoring the first try of the half as a Ravalawa tackle knocked the ball out of Jarrod Croker’s hands, pounced on by Lomax to score.
A kick from Fogarty to end the set saw some quick thinking from Frawley in the second-phase play to spot Timoko on the wing unoccupied to go over for his second try of the night and his eighth of the season so far.
Both teams went back and forth before Dragons were awarded a penalty to give an attacking set down the Raiders end.
A well worked set play from the Dragons saw Ravalawa go over in the corner, followed by a successful conversion from Lomax to make the score 30-16.
The Dragons gpt another try back with Lomax climbing above the Raiders’ left edge, planting the ball down and converting to make it 30-22.
The Dragons spread the ball out wide to the right edge again as Ravalawa found his hands on the ball, scoring his third try of the game.
A missed conversion from Lomax left the score with four points the difference with 15 minutes left on the clock.
The Raiders finally got their hands on the ball inside the Dragons’ 20 metre line as Sebastian Kris broke the line and scored to increase the lead to 10 points.
A successful captain’s challenge from the Dragons had a chance at Raiders try line one last time, however the Raiders hung on to their 10-point lead, running away with a 36-26 win.
