Raiders enjoy NRLW revival with back-to-back wins
Margie McDonald |
Coach Darrin Borthwick will keep the NRLW finals flame burning after Canberra overwhelmed Canterbury at Belmore Oval for a 56-24 win to set up a late-season charge up the ladder.
The Raiders’ 10-tries-to-four effort on Saturday kept the good times rolling after they broke their season duck with a 20-16 win over the Warriors last week.
In other results, Gold Coast capitalised on the Bulldogs stumbling to reach the top-six with a 22-4 victory over St George Illawarra, while the Sydney Roosters felt a tremor in their undefeated run when Parramatta held them 12-all at halftime before galloping to a 56-12 win.
It was the first time the Roosters – an NRLW foundation club in 2018 – have passed 50 points in a game.
Canberra would need to win their last three matches against Wests Tigers, Gold Coast and the Roosters while hoping other results fall their way to make the finals, but Borthwick doesn’t feel it’s mission impossible.
“There’s still a lot of belief in the group,” he said. “One thing I will say is the group is training harder than ever and they showed today they’ll keep turning up for each other.”
Momentum is a wonderful tonic and the Raiders’ 56 points is their highest yet in the NRLW, bettering the 38 against the Dragons last year.
Halfback Zahara Temara enjoyed a personal tally of 16 points to create a new club record alongside four try assists and three line-break assists.
The Bulldogs are not out of the top-six hunt but have now lost five in six and face the Broncos next week.
Things didn’t start well for them with the Raiders racing to 16-0 after tries from Mackenzie Wiki, Simaima Taufa and Chloe Saunders.
“I’m sort of lost for words,” said coach Brayden Williame. “We didn’t complete our first two sets and that sort of set the tone for us.
“Today was the first time that as a group we lost the bundle a bit and went into our shells.”
It took 17 minutes for the home side to register points, through lock Angelina Teakaraanga-Katoa, but then a double to Raiders stalwart Simaima Taufa and a 40-metre dash by fullback Elise Simpson sent Canberra on their way to a 28-12 halftime lead.
In the second half, the Raiders put on five tries to the Bulldogs’ two, including four in an eight-minute blitz from the 51st minute to put an end to any home-side comeback.
Jocelyn Kelleher landed eight conversions for a 16-point haul which took her to the top of the NRLW points scorers list, with 74, as the Roosters ran away with the game in the second half at CommBank Stadium.
John Strange’s side put on 44 unanswered points against the Eels after the break, as winger Taina Naividi racked up a hat-trick and Golden Boot winner Tarryn Aiken scored a double alongside three line-breaks, three try assists and eight tackle busts.
Titans winger Georgia Gray scored a hat-trick to put the sword into the Dragons with a five-tries-to-one victory.
Karyn Murphy’s side meet the Eels next weekend for the chance to seal a place in the top-six with three rounds left.
AAP
