The Toyota Forklifts Canberra Raiders have secured a 30-20 Easter Sunday victory against the Gold Coast Titans at CBUS Super Stadium.
Despite a slow first half, the Raiders were able to maintain their intensity, scoring five tries to seal an away win on the Gold Coast.
The Titans opened the scoring in the first three minutes, with a grubber kick setting up Beau Fermor to pummel his way through the Raiders’ defence. A few minutes later a bomb only 30 metres out gave Titans their second try of the day with an unsuccessful conversion.
Not happy with their previous efforts, the Raiders fought hard to regain possession. However, despite a strong effort, the Titans’ AJ Brimson added another try, making the score 16-0 in the 19th minute.
The Titans began to close in on the try line again, but the Raiders disrupted their attacking effort by knocking the ball out of the in-goal area, denying the Titans an opportunity to score.
An error forced by Tom Starling gave the Raiders a chance to fight back, but a knock-on spoiled their luck, handing possession back to the Titans.
The Raiders finally got on the score board after a beautiful pass from Ethan Strange led Savelio Tamale straight to the try line to score the green machine’s first points of the day.
Jamal Fogarty’s unsuccessful conversion left the score in the Titans’ favour 16-4 with 12 minutes left in the first half.
A determined effort from the Raiders saw Jaylan De Groot pulled into touch. The subsequent line goal dropout from the Titans didn’t hit the required 10 metres giving Hudson Young the perfect opportunity to storm through their defence planting the ball next to the post.
Fogarty easily added the extras narrowing the margin to 16-10 just before half-time.
The Titans then fumbled a towering bomb by Fogarty giving the Raiders another chance to score. Unfortunately, sloppy play gave possession back to their opponents. However, Raiders were able to turn this around with a Titans error giving them another shot.
Ethan Strange charged through two tackles to even the score 16-16 at the halftime siren.
The start of the second half was all the Raiders with Sebastian Kris intercepting a high ball contest two minutes in, to add Canberra’s fourth try.
Fogarty put Canberra ahead 22-16 with a successful conversion.
A series of errors from the Raiders threatened to spoil their lead. The Titans capitalised with Allan Fitzgibbon dodging his way across the try line, but an unsuccessful conversion kept the Raiders with a two-point lead.
The Titans tried their luck again but were held short at the try line with Weekes picking up the ball and running his side out of the red zone.
Looking to find weakness in the Titans’ defence, the Raiders impressive attacking game saw Ethan Strange almost reaching the try line before being pulled into touch.
Canberra’s lead looked to be in danger in the 62nd minute, but a knock-on by Titans’ Brimson resulted in a disallowed try.
Off the back of a Titans’ penalty, Raiders pushed their way back to their line with Young marching his way over the top of the Titans’ defence to put the ball just over the line. Fogarty drilled the ball through the posts extending Canberra’s lead 28-20.
Soon after, the Raiders were awarded a penalty after a high tackle on Strange and successfully added another two points to their tally.
The Raiders looked to have scored through Xavier Savage after a successful in-air contest, but a knock on denied Canberra the try.
With only two minutes to go the Titans made their best effort to narrow the margin, but the Raiders proved too strong, sealing a well-earned 30-20 victory on the road.
The Raiders will be looking to continue their winning streak when they take on the Dolphins at home next Sunday.
