A mixed weekend of results in our reserve grade competitions, with the Canberra Raiders' Jersey Flegg side recording a win in Melbourne whilst the NSW Cup team went down in a thriller.
NSW Cup
The Raiders were defeated by the Mounties 20-18 on Sunday afternoon at Aubrey Keech Reserve in Sydney following a 79th minute try from Mounties playmaker Brad Abbey.
In a thrilling matchup, both sides exchanged four-pointers over the 80 minutes of play with Canberra holding the lead until a miraculous try from Abbey sealed the victory for the home side with 20 seconds remaining.
Although it was a disappointing result for the Raiders, the side played extremely well considering they had lots of players out injured and were forced to have players playing up from Jersey Flegg.
It was an entertaining opening 20 minutes which saw three tries including one from Raiders front rower Peter Hola. Canberra emerged from that period down 10-6 but a try in the 36th minute from winger Steven Numambo gave the Raiders a two-point lead going into halftime following the conversion.
The Mounties were the first to score in the second half giving them a 16-12 lead with plenty of time left for the Raiders to get back in front.
It took just under 15 minutes from that try for Canberra to do so, with hooker Adrian Trevilyan showing his craftiness to get across the line. Joshua James slotted his third conversion to give the Raiders an 18-16 lead with 11 minutes to go.
But Brad Abbey had the final say scoring the match winner just before the siren sounded giving the Mounties the win.
Canberra will now shift their attention to their round 19 match against the Bulldogs at GIO Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Match: Mounties v Raiders
Round 18 -
home Team
Mounties
10th Position
away Team
Raiders
6th Position
Venue: Aubrey Keech Reserve, Sydney
Jersey Flegg
The Canberra Raiders’ Jersey Flegg side played in the curtain raiser for the club’s NRL match against the Storm and showed a sign of things to come, defeating the Victoria Thunderbolts 24-12 in convincing fashion.
Fullback Sione Vuki was unstoppable for the green machine scoring a career best three tries for the Raiders.
It didn’t take long for Canberra to hit the scoreboard with Vuki going over in just the fourth minute of the match. Brad Schneider had no issues with his first conversion attempt, putting it over the black dot to give the Raiders an early 6-0 lead.
But Vuki wasn’t stopping there. The fullback found the line again four minutes later to shoot the visitors out to a comfortable 12-point lead after ten minutes of action.
In the 24th minute, forward Ata Mariota scored a try of his own to continue Canberra’s hot start to the game.
But two minutes out from the break, the Thunderbolts registered their first points of the afternoon with a four-pointer through Cole Geyer. The conversion was successful from Victoria making it 18-6 at halftime.
Vuki started the second half exactly like he started the first, scoring his third try of the match only a couple minutes in to give Canberra an 18-point lead after the conversion.
Geyer scored his second try in the 54th minute for the Thunderbolts making it 24-12 with 15 minutes to go.
But neither side was able to break through following Geyer’s double, keeping the Raiders ahead by 12-points.
Similarly to NSW Cup, the Raiders Jersey Flegg side will be back in action in round 19 against the Bulldogs at GIO Stadium looking to make five wins from their last six games.
Match: Storm v Raiders
Round 18 -
home Team
Storm
11th Position
away Team
Raiders
8th Position
Venue: AAMI Park, Melbourne
