Raining champs: Dragons outlast Raiders in wild conditions

The Dragons defied brutal conditions in Wollongong to down the Raiders 12-10 at WIN Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

In driving rain and gale force winds the kicking game of Ben Hunt proved vital in a tight contest which featured just four tries.

The Dragons opened the scoring in bizarre fashion when Jordan Rapana attempted a short dropout and Jack Wighton tapped the ball back, only for the ball to land in the hands of Talatau Amone who strolled over for a 4-0 lead.

Another short dropout gone wrong by Canberra handed Zac Lomax a gift two points from in front of the sticks and the Red V led 6-0 after 26 minutes.

The Raiders hit back on the half hour mark when Xavier Savage took the ball 15 metres out and accelerated through the defence to slide in for his fourth try of the season.

A spilled bomb by Nick Cotric handed the Dragons field position and they capitalised through a rampaging Moses Suli, taking an inside ball from Jack Bird and running over the top of Savage to score.

The Dragons made a strong start to the second half with Andrew McCullough got over from dummy half but was held up as the Raiders found themselves under the pump after Wighton had knocked on from the kick-off.

After surviving that early scare the Raiders settled into a rhythm and grabbed their second try when Hudson Young powered through some poor online defence to make it 12-10.

A towering kick by Wighton was put down by Cody Ramsey in the 63rd minute to hand Canberra an opportunity but Wighton dropped the ball on the first tackle and the Dragons were off the hook.

When Ramsey put down a bomb with 90 seconds to play the Raiders had a chance to pull the game out of the fire but they were denied by desperate Dragons defence and a controversial last tackle when the visitors felt a penalty should have been awarded rather than a six-again.

The win keeps the Dragons into eighth spot while the Raiders are languishing in 11th ahead of a bye in round 17.

Match Snapshot

• Joe Tapine continued his fine season for the Raiders with 153 metres from 16 runs in 68 minutes of game time.
• Cody Ramsey proved elusive at the back for the Dragons with four tackle breaks and 98 run metres.
• Adam Elliott gave the Raiders plenty of impact when he entered the game from the the bench, making 131 metres from 14 strong carries.
• Andrew McCullough and Jack Bird got through 90 tackles between them for the Dragons while Joe Tapine made 45 tackles for Canberra.

• The Dragons have won their past four games at WIN Stadium.
• The Raiders have won only two from eight away games in 2022.
• Red V veteran Moses Mbye saw his first action in the 65th minute when young winger Mat Feagai hobbled off with a knee injury.
• The Dragons completed 33 of 42 sets at 78 per cent in the atrocious conditions.