The Raiders Jersey Flegg side have made it two straight wins after a tight 40- 30 win over the Victoria Thunderbolts at McDonalds Park in Wagga Wagga on Saturday.
The scored were locked at 30-30 all with four minutes of play remaining, before Raiders winger Josh Smith and fullback Rayden Burns scored in the final few minutes to seal the win.
The Thunderbolts were first on the scoreboard when winger Ron Tooala crossed in the corner in the second minute. Jonah Pezet’s conversion was unsuccessful, with the Thunderbolts taking an early 4-0 lead.
The Raiders hit back in the eighth minute after a perfectly weighted grubber from Mitchell Spencer set up Casey to score. Spencer then converted the try to give the Raiders a 6-4 lead.
Fullback Rayden Burns proved too strong for the Thunderbolts defence close to the line in the 18th minute to help the Raiders extend their lead. Spencer’s conversion was unsuccessful, with the Raiders taking a 10-4 lead.
The Raiders further extended their lead in the 23rd minute when second rower Kaden Williams crossed. Spencer added the two to give the Raiders a 16-4 lead.
Captain Sione Moala was next on the scoreboard, when he dived over from dummy half to score in the 30th minute. Spencer again added the two to give the Raiders a 22-4 lead.
The Raiders added one more try in the final minute of the half when Steven Numambo crashed over to score, with the Raiders taking a 26-4 lead at half-time.
The home side continued their momentum in the second half, with Casey scoring his second try of the day in the right hand corner. Casey missed the conversion, leaving the score at 30-4.
But the visiting side then staged a comeback, with centre Ammaron Gudgeon finding his way over the try-line in the 47th minute. Halfback Jonah Pezet kicked the conversion to make the score 30-10.
The Thunderbolts scored again five minutes later through winger Tiraa Ua, with Pezet again converting to close the gap to 30-16.
Some tired Raiders defence on their own tryline allowed Victoria hooker Cole Geyer to score, and then winger Tooala scored off the next set to make it a four-point ball game at 30-26.
Raiders lock Caleb Tohi was sin-binned for a tackle off the ball on his own10 metre line, and the Thunderbolts capitalised on the next play with Lodoviko Cokanauto scoring a try. Pezet missed the conversion, leaving the scores tied at 30-30 with four minutes of play remaining.
An error by the Thunderbolts off the kick-off gave the home side great field position, and they were able to score off the scrum the next play with winger Josh Smith scoring a four-pointer. Moala successfully converted to give the Raiders a 36-30 lead.
Raiders fullback Rayden Burns scored with a minute to go, bringing the score to 40-30.
