Raiders defeated in Wagga Wagga

The Canberra Raiders have lost to a fast-finishing Newcastle Knights 24-16 at McDonald’s Park on Saturday.

The Raiders led 16-0 at halftime but could not close out the match after the Knights scored 24 unanswered points.

The Raiders opened the scoring in the seventh minute with a George Williams penalty goal after Tyson Frizell was penalised for an illegal tackle in front of the Knights' uprights.

Williams was gifted with an easy penalty goal minutes later when the Knights broke from a scrum early, giving the Raiders a 4-0 lead after 10 minutes.

Ryan Sutton’s afternoon ended early when he left the field midway through the first half with a suspected arm injury.

The Knights looked to have scored the first try of the game when Kalyn Ponga put Enari Tuala over, but an obstruction in the lead up overturned the score.

Instead, it was Joseph Tapine that captured the first four-pointer of the game. Tapine ran on to a Jordan Rapana pass to crash over the line in the 30th minute.

A beautiful cutout pass from George Williams off a scrum play put Bailey Simonsson over untouched. The try gave the Raiders a 16-0 lead going into halftime.

A short kickoff from Kalyn Ponga to start the second half gave the Knights prime field position. Minutes later, Connor Watson put Phoenix Crossland for the Knights’ first points of the game.

The Knights closed the gap to four points after Kalyn Ponga found a hole in the Raiders’ defence on their line.

With 12 minutes remaining, the Knights took the lead from the Raiders when Tyson Frizell crashed through the Raiders defence from close range to score.

The Raiders looked to have jumped back in front when Caleb Aekins dived onto a grubber in the Knights’ in-goal, but the Bunker ruled that Aekins had knocked on.

The Knights scored again with minutes to go to get out to a 24-16 lead, ending any chance of a Raiders’ comeback.