The Canberra Raiders NSW Cup side continued their red-hot run of form in Round 17 of the competition whilst the Jersey Flegg team fell to the Roosters.
NSW Cup
The Raiders have climbed up into third position on the NSW Cup ladder after defeating the North Sydney Bears 30-16 at Raiders Belconnen on Saturday afternoon.
Canberra have been arguably the in-form team of the competition over the past two months, registering six wins from their last seven matches.
NSW Cup Highlights | Raiders v Bears - Round 17
Raiders’ winger Michael Asomua was unstoppable on the day, scoring two tries, making nine tackle breaks and amassing 134 running metres.
However, it was the Bears that scored first in the third minute with Toa Mata’afa breaking through Canberra’s defensive line and setting up the try for Sandon Smith.
But Canberra answered back strongly, scoring back-to-back tries through Ata Mariota and Asomua to take the Raiders out to a six-point lead in the 28th minute.
Bears’ fullback Keiran Hayman made it a two-point game just before half-time, scoring his side's second try but was unsuccessful with the conversion.
Only five minutes into the second half, the Bears crossed over again through edge backrower Joshua Wong to give his side a four-point lead after the conversion.
Needing a big play to try and regain the momentum of the match, Asomua came up with the goods to level the scores and stop the Bears’ point scoring run.
The Raiders turned the match with Asomua’s second try, forcing errors out of the Bears and giving themselves a platform to run away with the win.
Canberra finished the match with two tries through Matt Frawley and Mariota, taking their lead out to 14 points.
The Raiders NSW Cup team will face Mounties on Sunday looking to continue their impressive recent form.
Jersey Flegg
The Canberra Raiders Jersey Flegg team were defeated by the Sydney Roosters 40-14 on Saturday, ending a three-game winning streak.
Although it was a disappointing result for the green machine, Canberra winger Steven Numambo was impressive scoring two out of the team’s three tries.
The Raiders started the game perfectly, forcing an error out of the Roosters in their opening set and crossing over in just the third minute through Jed Stuart.
Noah Ryan had no issues with the conversion, giving the Raiders an early six-point lead.
But multiple errors and penalties from Canberra gave the away side great attacking positioning for the remainder of the half, which resulted in the Roosters scoring five straight tries.
This point-scoring run resulted in the Roosters taking a 26-6 lead into half-time.
Needing a big performance in the second half, the Raiders started off exactly how they wanted to with Numambo scoring to make it a 16-point deficit.
But the Roosters answered back with another point-scoring spree, taking their lead out to 30 points with only 20 minutes to go.
Numambo scored his second in the 60th minute but the game was but gone by that stage, with the Roosters holding onto their 26-point lead for the remainder of the match.
The Raiders will look to bounce back when they take on the Thunderbolts at AAMI Park this Sunday.
