Raiders 34 Defeated Rabbitohs 18
01 Jun 2009
The Canberra Raiders have defeated the South Sydney Rabbitohs at ANZ Stadium tonight (Monday), 34 points to 18 in front of 9,805 members and supporters.
The Raiders ran in six tries to four in a dominant performance.
The Raiders opened in the scoring early, through tries to Joel Monaghan in the sixth minute and david Milne in the ninth minute of play. Marc Herbert converted the second try to give the Raiders a 10-nil advantage within the first 10 minutes.
Rabbitohs fullback Luke Capewell struck back for the Rabbitohs in the 13th minute, chiming into the backline off a lovely John Sutton short ball to score.
In the 30th minute, flying winger Nathan Merritt in the right hand corner after out-leaping his opposition to take a Sutton crossfield bomb. Issac Luke’s conversion locked the scores up at 10-all.
The Raiders fought back immediately, strolling through the middle of the Rabbitohs ruck defence to set up Marc Herbert for his side’s third try. He converted to give the visitors a six-point advantage.
With three minutes left on the clock in the first half, Fetuli Talanoa scored his first of two tries, when he collected a deft grubber kick from Sutton in goal to score.
The Rabbitohs were down by two at the break, but the Raiders seemed to have the upper hand.
In the second half it was all the men from the nation’s capital.
Tries to Dane Tilse in the 48th minute, Tom Learoyd-Lahrs in the 61st minute and Nigel Plum in the 73rd minute gave the Raiders an unassailable lead.
Talanoa touched down for his second try in the 77th minute after a looping ball from Sutton found the mark.
The final score of 34-18 showed the Canberra side’s dominance in the second half.
“The second half got away from us,” Rabbitohs Head Coach Jason Taylor said.
“They dominated us around the middle of the field.
“The scoreboard got away from us but we weren’t far below our past couple of performances I thought. We got the one-point win against the Tigers and the draw against the Eels.
“Our kicking game struggled tonight, and it was disappointing all-round.
“Our guys tried hard to get in the face of the big Canberra forward pack, but our intensity dropped away. We need to learn to stay in the fight every week.”
Rabbitohs captain Roy Asotasi said: “You’ve got to be up and ready every week in the NRL.
“Their pack dominated us. There’s no excuses.”
The Rabbitohs move on to play the North Queensland Cowboys next Saturday night in Townsville.
Canberra Raiders 34 (Joel Monaghan, David Milne, Marc Herbert, Dane Tilse, Tom Learoyd-Lahrs, Nigel Plum tries; Marc Herbert 5 goals)
defeated
South Sydney Rabbitohs 18 (Fetuli Talanoa 2, Luke Capewell, Nathan Merritt tries; Issac Luke goal)
In the Toyota Cup, the Rabbitohs and the Raiders played out a 32-all draw.
The Rabbitohs were down 28-10 early in the second half, but fought back to lead 32-28 late in the game. The Raiders scored with two minutes remaining to snatch a draw.
South Sydney Rabbitohs 32 (Kane Morgan, Dylan Farrell, Brock Molan, Jason Clark, Junior Vaivai, Brock Harmer tries; Adam Reynolds 4 goals)
drew with
Canberra Raiders 32 (Josh Dugan 2, Matt Ward 2, Sam Williams, Jarrad Kennedy tries; Josh Dugan 4 goals)