Canberra hold on for tight victory in Campbelltown

After a strong first half, Canberra were able to hold their lead despite the Tigers relentless efforts to upset their night. 

The Raiders delivered a strong performance across the park, with Sebastian Kris celebrating his 100th NRL game and a dream debut for Jed Stuart, crossing for a try.

Both teams opened the game in a back-and-forth contest with errors disrupting any momentum, keeping the scoreboard untouched.

The Raiders maintained a strong defensive effort, preventing the Tigers from crossing the line on multiple occasions. The Tigers looked to have scored 13 minutes in, but a try saving tackle by skipper Joseph Tapine kept them scoreless.

Canberra then gained some much-needed momentum after a successful challenge with Tapine charging through a gaping hole in the Tigers’ defence to grab the first points of the night. Jamal Fogarty easily added the extras bringing the score to 6-nil in the 15th minute.

A beautiful line break by Kaeo Weekes pushed the Raiders up into their opponent’s 20, before NRL debutant Stuart powered his way through the left edge to dive over the corner to record the first try of his career. A missed conversion left the score 10-nil.

The Raiders didn’t slow down as Seb Kris broke through the Tigers’ defence running big metres down the sideline. The surge seemed to stall when Weekes was bulldozed by the Tigers. But a never say die attitude from Tom Starling, chased a loose ball to add another four points for the green machine.

The Tigers pushed to shift the tempo but were met with a brick wall as the Raiders’ defence held firm, sending them to the sheds with a commanding 16-nil lead. 

The start of the second half closely mirrored the first, with both sides locked in a seesaw battle, neither able to gain the upper hand.

Raiders appeared to have broken the pattern through Ethan Strange, but the ball was ruled to not be grounded and the try was disallowed. The Tigers capitalised off this, adding their first points of the night. Not long after they crossed again, narrowing the score to 16-12 with 30 minutes left.

The Raiders regained possession from a goal-line dropout, but an contest in the air handed the ball back to the Tigers with Adam Doueihi making a strong 40 metre run. Desperate defence from the Raiders kept the Tigers at bay.

The Raiders gained some much needed field position, forcing a repeat set before the Tigers forced an error to get the ball back with only minutes remaining.

An offside penalty against the Tigers gave the Raiders one final opportunity to defend their lead in the closing minutes. They held firm to secure a hard-fought 16-12 victory.

They will be looking to make it six consecutive wins when they take on the Newcastle Knights next Friday night at McDonald Jones Stadium.