NRL, Match Report, St George Illawarra Dragons, Canberra Raiders, First half Raiders blitz denies Dragons victory

Author: Alicia Newton NRL Reporter
Timestamp: Fri 7 Jul 2023, 10:00 PM

The Raiders have survived a second half scare against a gallant Dragons side to secure a 36-26 victory at WIN Stadium on Friday night.

Four tries to the Raiders in the first half set up a 24-6 lead before Zac Lomax and Mikaele Ravalawa sparked three tries in six minutes for the home side to reduce the deficit to four with 15 minutes remaining.

Ravalawa and Lomax caused headaches for veteran Jarrod Croker and Albert Hopoate on the edge with the pair combining for five tries between them in a 30-minute blitz to get the Dragons back in the game.

The Raiders needed a big play to stop the momentum and got one with a strong tackle from Hudson Young on Jacob Liddle forcing the ball loose and enabling the visitors to get back to a 10-point lead in the following set.

A short side play by Zac Woolford sent Sebastian Kris over in the 72nd minute to give Ricky Stuart's men some breathing space, where they were able to defend their way to an 11th win of the season.

We've got a game here

The Raiders crossed first in the ninth minute with Jordan Rapana finishing off a Matt Timoko linebreak on the right edge with a run from dummy half to the line.

Canberra got their second eight minutes later through a rampaging run by Joseph Tapine, who skipped his way past four Dragons defenders to go over near the posts.

Timoko, who suffered a knee scare before half-time, got the Raiders' third when Rapana and Elliott Whitehead combined to send the centre over the line for an 18-0 lead.

Tapine beats them all

The Dragons, denied a try to Ravalawa due to a Talatau Amone forward pass only moments earlier, got on the board in the 33rd minute when Ravalawa went over from close range after Amone fell inches short a play before.

An error from Paul Turner under the high ball enabled the Raiders to push for their fourth and with eight seconds left on the clock Ricky Stuart's men crossed with a Jamal Fogarty kick hitting the posts before falling in the hands of Matt Frawley.

Lomax crossed for his first when he picked up a Jarrod Croker error from a kick to narrow the Raiders' lead after half-time but a Timoko try shortly - his second of the evening - stretched the visitors' lead once more.

Lomax was in the action again in the 57th minute when he sent Ravalawa over for his double after a late offload from Jack de Belin created an overlap out wide, before he outleaped Croker for the ball to plant down the side's fourth try.

Ravalawa's third try had the Dragons believing late before Kris's try through clumsy Red V defence was enough to get them home.

Round 19 - Round 19 - Friday 7 Jul

Full Time

Dragons

Raiders

Venue: WIN Stadium, Wollongong

Highlights Latest

Match snapshot

Raiders coach Ricky Stuart tweaked his side pre-game by putting Jack Wighton at lock and Matt Frawley at five-eighth.
Raiders centre Matt Timoko was enormous for the Raiders with 221 metres, six tackle busts and three linebreaks.
Dragons centre Zac Lomax had the most runs in a game of his NRL career with 24 carries, recording over 213 metres in the loss.
Mikaele Ravalawa's hat-trick was the first try-scoring effort of his NRL career in six games against the Raiders.
Dragons spine members Jayden Sullivan (hamstring), fullback Paul Turner (back), Jacob Liddle (head knock) and Ben Murdoch-Masila (knee) picked up injuries in the loss.
Matt Timoko crossed for the second double of his NRL career.
Dragons debutant Dan Russell got on the field in the 33rd minute.
The Raiders have now won seven of their past nine games against the Dragons.
St George Illawarra enjoyed 53 percent of possession, completed at 87 percent and had nine linebreaks in the defeat.
The Dragons have now lost their past 10 games without Ben Hunt.
The Raiders have a -96 points differential in the final 20 minutes of games in 2023.

Play of the game

Getting into the spirit of Sportsbet's 'Try July' fundraising competition for the Daniel Anderson Fund, first try-scoer Jordan Rapana rallied his teammates to deliver a Jonny Bairstow Ashes stumping moment that quickly made its way across the world to England on social media.

Don't leave your crease Elliott!

What they said

"I'm not happy with it, we should've gone on with it in the second half. We used to be a team that used to be happy to win those games and it didn't matter how. We've got to change that mentality of being more ruthless and going on with it. [Our left edge defence] hasn't been like that, it's an easy fix. Me sitting in here all happy and going in and patting them on the back is the wrong actions from a coach tonight but I'm very happy we are getting out of Wollongong with two points." - Raiders coach Ricky Stuart.

"I'm super proud of the effort and how we kept fighting and went after the game. It's something we've been guilty of the last couple of weeks - going in and out of the game - we played some controlled footy so I was pleased with that. I'm not thrilled with our defence, it's still a huge area for us to work on. It's not an overnight fix, we've got to keep chasing that and get better." - Dragons interim coach Ryan Carr.

NRL Press Conference: Dragons v Raiders - Round 19, 2023

What's next

Both sides have a bye in Round 20 before featuring early in Round 21. The Dragons will return to WIN Stadium for a clash against Wests Tigers on Thursday, July 20, while the Raiders will travel to New Zealand to meet the Warriors at Go Media Stadium in Auckland. The likes of Josh Papali'i (hamstring), Pasami Saulo (head knock) and Harley Smith-Shields (finger) could be available after the break while Jack Bird, Tyrell Sloan and Jaydn Su'A may return for the Dragons.