The Toyota Forklifts Canberra Raiders have celebrated a history- making match defeating the Rabbitohs 36-12 at a packed GIO Stadium.
The victory was extra special with club legend Josh Papalii etching his name in the history books as the most capped Raider of all time, playing his 319th game for the Canberra Raiders. The match also marked Matt Timoko’s 100th game for the Raiders and Corey Horsburgh’s 100th NRL game.
Papalii was instrumental in the Raiders win with a strong performance, bagging two tries and converting one.
The crowd braved freezing conditions to show their support for Papalii with over 19,000 fans flocking to GIO Stadium Canberra to celebrate his milestone.
In wet and slippery conditions, the Rabbitohs opened the scoring in the first four minutes with Keaon Koloamantangi squeezing his way across the line and putting them in front 6-nil.
Subsequently, a penalty awarded to Souths due to a dangerous tackle gave them an extra two points after a successful penalty goal.
After a stoppage in play due to an injury to Raiders winger Savelio Tamale, a successful challenge by the Rabbitohs left the door open for them score their second try. A missed conversion made it 12-nil at the 15th minute.
A superb intercept by Sebastian Kris put the Raiders into attack. However, the grubber kick had too much pace and beat the Raiders across the dead ball line.
The contest continued back and forth as the Raiders fought hard to keep possession of the ball, when a Souths' error allowed them to find their way into the red zone. Unfortunately, loose hands from Canberra ended their attacking run of play.
With only eight minutes left on the clock in the first half, a line break by Kris gave the Raiders a chance to score, however luck wasn’t on their side with a dropped ball ending their efforts to cross the line.
Possession began to swing the green machine’s way, with multiple attacking plays. Those attempts paid dividends with Ethan Strange darting his way through multiple players before planting the ball on the left edge. Strange easily converted his own try give the Raiders their first points of the game with the scoreboard 6-12 at the half-time break.
The Raiders entered the second half hungry battling it out set for set with the Rabbitohs. The pattern finally broke in the 49th minute, when the Raiders were awarded a penalty. Once again Strange showed his fast footwork and dodged his way through defenders to score his second for the day levelling the score 12-all.
A towering kick by Jamal Fogarty set up an in-air contest which was fumbled by the Rabbitohs, leaving a straight path to the line for Zac Hosking for the Raiders to take the lead, 18-12.
Not long after, Kris intercepted a strong bomb pushing the ball back for Simi Sasagi to take it and charge directly to the line to score. Strange had no issues kicking his fourth conversion for the afternoon.
The boys weren’t quite done yet, with Papalii himself sealing another four points for the green machine. Strange nailed the ball through the post bringing the score to 30-12 with less than 10 minutes on the clock.
Only moments later Papalii did it again, adding a double in his record-breaking match. He was handed the kicking duties, converting his own try with ease to put his side further ahead 36-12.
Despite a half-time deficit the Raiders never gave up in this history making match, taking the win 36-12.
The boys in green will have a well-deserved rest with a bye next week and will be back for round 16 against the West Tigers in Campbelltown.
