The Raiders fall to the Broncos in gallant effort

Although falling short against the Broncos, it was captain Zahara Temara who stood tall for the Raiders in attack, scoring one and setting up another, in a standout performance from the halfback.

The Brisbane Broncos were first on the board with a grubber kick looking for Hayley Maddick who got the perfect bounce and crossed for a 4-nil lead inside the first five minutes.

The Broncos went back-to-back with Tamika Upton throwing a cut-out pass for Maddick to stroll in to grab her second and gave the Broncos a 10-nil lead.

Brisbane continued their momentum, running in another two tries through Kerri Johnson and Gayle Broughton to take a commanding 20-nil lead.

Leianne Tufuga allowed the Raiders to get their first chance to attack close to the line with a well-read interception.

The Broncos' defence proved to be too strong and didn’t allow the Raiders to get close to their line.

A spread to the left-hand side of the Raiders saw some fancy ball work which ended with Zahara Temara who took on the line and grabbed the first try of the afternoon to cut the deficit to 20-6.

Zahara Temara had a terrific first half with a beautifully weighted kick into the in-goal with Johnson aiming to get out, who spilled the ball and Hollie-Mae Dodd pounced on the ball to cut the deficit to 20-12.

30 seconds before halftime off the back of a scrum, the Broncos spread it to the left to Mele Hufanga, who shoved off two to score and push the Broncos to a 26-12 lead at the break.

It was the Green Machine first on the board with a superb one-on-one strip from Sereana Naitokatoka, who gave it off to Relna Wuruki-Hosea, who scored in the corner and cut the deficit to 26-16.

The Raiders were having a terrific second half with Captain Temara bumping off defenders and giving off to Mackenzie Wiki, who sprinted away to cut the deficit to 26-22.

An error from the Raiders allowed the Broncos to try to push their lead further away from the Raiders.

The Broncos spread the ball on the last out to Rommy Teitzel, who double pumped and beat the defender to score and put the Broncos up 32-22.

Brisbane piled on the points late, sending Shalom Sauaso and Julia Robinson over the line to walk away with a strong 44-22 lead.

With just 10 seconds remaining, Chloe Saunders stepped past one and powered her way to the tryline to finish the game at 44-28 with the Broncos securing the win.