Canberra Raiders Cup 2021: Round 15 Preview

The Blumers Lawyers Canberra Raiders Cup heads into round 15 this weekend, with the Belconnen United Sharks and the Gungahlin Bulls battling it out in this week’s match of the round.

Match of the Round: Gungahlin Bulls v Belconnen United Sharks, 3pm Sunday 8 August at Gungahlin Enclosed Oval

Returning to the field for the first time since round 12, the Belconnen United Sharks will be looking to take home two points as they make a late surge to finals.

Sharks centre Sam Wentworth says his team is ready to go after a couple weeks of rest, and they will need to focus on themselves if they want to take home the win on Sunday.

“We’ve been able to rest a couple of bodies up and get some players with injuries back on the paddock this week,” Wentworth said.

“We’ve had a couple of missed opportunities in our last couple of games, but we’re looking forward in this next block, and it is do or die for us,

“There’s a lot of teams fighting for that third or fourth spot so for us it’s really big this weekend to get the win on the board,

“It’s just focusing on ourselves we’ve shown when we play good footy in patches that we can beat anyone.”

But they have a tough job ahead of them, as the competition leaders, the Gungahlin Bulls have only lost one game this season.

Bulls lock Zac Patch says they’ve been focusing on their defence in the last couple of weeks, and the Bulls are looking to have a strong run of wins as they head into finals.

“We’ve done a lot of work on our defence over the last few weeks, we know we can always score points, but at the moment we just have to keep other teams from scoring, and we know we can beat any team if we do that,” Patch said.

Queanbeyan Kangaroos v Goulburn City Bulldogs, 3pm Saturday 7 August at Seears Workwear Oval

With the Queanbeyan Kangaroos just holding onto third position on the ladder, the Goulburn City Bulldogs will be wanting to secure the win to get them into the top four.

Goulburn suffered a tough 50-10 loss last weekend, so they will be hoping to redeem themselves against the Roos.

But the Queanbeyan Roos will be hard to beat after they had a stunning 52-20 win over the Woden Valley Rams last weekend where they found their rhythm just in time for their surge for finals.

The Roos showed how strong they can be in the middle of the field last round, when second rower, Reece Robinson scored a hattrick and he will be one to watch again this weekend.

Yass Magpies v Queanbeyan Blues, 3pm Saturday 7 August at Walker Park, Yass

After displaying a dominant 50-10 performance over the Goulburn City Bulldogs last weekend, the Queanbeyan Blues will be searching for their sixth win in a row as they face the Yass Magpies on Saturday.

But the Yass Magpies will put up a fight for the win as they look to string together consecutive wins. 

Yass are coming off a strong 32-10 win over the Tuggeranong Bushrangers last weekend which saw Mitchell Turner and Nofoaiga Limoni score doubles in the match.

As Blues continue to prove how strong they are as a team, Yass will need to put on their best performance if they want the win.

Tuggeranong Bushrangers v Woden Valley Rams, 3pm Saturday 7 August at Greenway Oval

The Woden Valley Rams will be searching for their second win of the season as they come against the Tuggeranong Bushrangers on Saturday.

After both teams suffered losses last weekend, the sides will be eager to get the two points in the local derby.  

Having endured similar results this season, with the Bushrangers and Rams unable to string together consistent wins, Saturday is expected to be a competitive battle between the evenly matched sides.