Horsburgh double leads Raiders to first win of season
- Author
- Timestamp
The Raiders have opened their account for 2023, extending their recent winning streak over the Sharks with a 24-20 win at GIO Stadium on Sunday night.
An inspired performance from Corey Horsburgh, who crossed for the first double of his NRL career, steered the Raiders to their first win of the season against a Sharks outfit that came home strong after trailing by 14 in the second half.
Raiders centre Matt Timoko was equally as good with two try assists and a try while the Sharks were kept in the contest for most of the match through the class of Braydon Trindall.
In humid conditions in the nation's capital, Canberra were dealt a blow two minutes into the contest with Danny Levi taken to hospital for a suspected broken jaw after coming off second best in a tackle on Braden Hamlin-Uele.
Horsburgh drives through Sharks line like a big red car
Cronulla struck first on the left edge shortly after with Ronaldo Mulitalo busting the line open before finding Will Kennedy in support for his fourth try of the season.
The Raiders needed a spark and the injection of Horsburgh coincided with Ricky Stuart's men going back-to-back with tries through Albert Hopoate and the big man himself next to the posts.
Mulitalo with the brilliant put down
Their 12-6 lead quickly evaporated, however, when Kennedy and Mulitalo combined again before half-time with the fullback placing a short kick for the Kiwi international to collect and plant the ball down inside the sideline.
A lacklustre second half from the Sharks early, which included four penalties and two errors inside eight minutes, allowed the Raiders to strike twice before Royce Hunt was sin-binned for lashing out at Horsburgh following a scrum.
Match: Raiders v Sharks
Round 3 -
home Team
Raiders
12th Position
away Team
Sharks
9th Position
Venue: GIO Stadium, Canberra
The loss of Hunt didn't affect the Sharks as much as it could've with Trindall setting up Jesse Ramien on the right edge in his 100th NRL match.
Another try to the visitors via Briton Nikora forced a four-point ball game with 15 minutes remaining but the Raiders held firm defensively with a couple of big plays to secure the win.
Match snapshot
- The Raiders lost Danny Levi to a suspected broken jaw in the second minute of the match with the new recruit taken to hospital.
- Canberra have now won their past nine games against the Sharks, a record dating back to 2019.
- Corey Horsburgh scored the first double of his NRL career with tries in the 30th and 51st minute.
- Sharks prop Royce Hunt was sin-binned in the 51st minute for a strike on Horsburgh following a scrum.
- Sharks centre Jesse Ramien made his 100th NRL appearance in the clash while Raiders five-eighth Jack Wighton also notched up a century of games at GIO Stadium.
- The Sharks completed at 87% for the match but could only manage three linebreaks to six.
- The Raiders had only 48% of the ball and completed at 78% in the victory.
- Joseph Tapine was enormous for the Raiders with 172 metres in a 47-minute stint.
- Sharks playmaker Braydon Trindall finished the game with an ankle injury.
Hopoate squares it up for Raiders
Play of the game
The Raiders had to muscle up and fend the Sharks off to secure their first win of the season with efforts to either get out of their own in-goal coming up trumps or defensive displays like the below to hold Jack Williams up over the line among the highlights.
What a get out of gaol for Raiders
What they said
"We didn't ice a few moments over the last couple of weeks and I thought we'd been unlucky with a few things like 50-50 calls and not getting the bounce of the ball where we could've been winners in one or two games. I think we showed every one of the 14,500 people how resilient our football team is." - Raiders coach Ricky Stuart.
"We're obviously disappointed. We're getting ourselves into some good games for the neutrals. I thought our discipline was crucial at the end and we had some fundamental errors. I like the way we responded when we were behind the eight ball though. We went down swinging and fell short there. We've got to tune the footy up a little bit, we've got some things to work on." - Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon.
NRL Press Conference: Raiders v Sharks - Round 3, 2023
What's next
The Raiders hit the road for the third time in four weeks with a trip north to the Hunter to take on the depleted Knights at McDonald Jones Stadium. They'll need a starting hooker after losing Danny Levi with Tom Starling and Zac Woolford set to step up into the role. Raiders prop Josh Papali'i is nearing a return for the Green Machine while Nick Cotric will be monitored after he was a late withdrawal against the Sharks due to a hamstring strain. Cronulla take on the Dragons in Kogarah in a cross-town rival battle to saviour in Round 4.
