The Canberra Raiders have made a statement over the competition leaders, securing a 28-4 victory in harsh conditions and handing the Broncos their first loss of the season.
With cold and wet conditions settling in over GIO Stadium, both teams knuckled down for what loomed as a challenging contest for both outfits.
Despite being afforded a handful of early opportunities on Brisbane’s line, Canberra was unable to make any impression on the scoreboard as a lack of ball security plagued any go forward.
Finding themselves in the Raiders half off the back of a Jesse Southwell 40/30, the Broncos struck through Lauren Dam in the 12th minute for the first points of the contest.
Shortly after the restart the Broncos looked likely once more, however a textbook Chanté Temara try saver from the inside put to sleep any immediate threat.
Time after time the Raiders proved to be their own worst enemy, failing to get to their end of set plays inside the Broncos 20 metres on a number of occasions.
Finally, in the 28th minute the Raiders struck through Charlotte Basham, running a wonderful line leaving Brisbane’s defence no chance and picking up her first try in green!
Unable to get to their kick from the restart, the Raiders invited Brisbane back onto the attack with only minutes remaining, however rallied in defence to hold onto a 6-4 lead heading into the halftime break.
Isabella Waterman got the Raiders off to the perfect start after returning from the break, outdoing the Broncos on a contested kick before finding Elise Simpson for the line in the 37th minute.
Zahara Temara made no mistake from the sideline, bumping the Raiders lead out to 12-4.
Waterman was well and truly on a charge for the Raiders as her kick chase proved too much to handle once more, before carrying a handful of defenders over the line for a try of her own.
While missing out on an opportunity for their third try of the half, the Raiders were well and truly on top as Zahara Temara nailed a penalty goal to extend the lead to 18-4.
Staring down the barrel of their first defeat of the season, the Broncos were unable to match the Raiders intensity, as uncharacteristic errors continued to afford Canberra with dominant field position.
Leianne Tufuga kept the scoreboard ticking over for the Raiders, demonstrating her damaging capabilities with ball-in-hand to pick up Canberra’s fourth of the contest.
Completing a try scoring double and all but sealing victory for the Green Machine, Basham perfectly executed a line off Krystal Blackwell’s ball playing once more.
As fulltime sounded over GIO Stadium, the Raiders had conquered the Canberra cold to snap a three game losing streak with a dominant 28-4 victory over the Broncos.
