Sydney Barbarians showed their experience against the Rolling Raiders at Queanbeyan PCYC on Saturday, recording a 14-8 victory in what was the Rolling Raiders first match since 2021.
The Barbarians got off to a blistering start scoring the opening two tries of the match in the first 5 minutes to race out to a 10-0 lead.
Some back-and-forth action was finally broken as the Sydney Barbarians scored their third try of the half to take the lead out to 14-nil just before halftime.
This score would remain as the Barbarians took a 14-point lead into the break.
The second half started with the Sydney Barbarians spending a lot of time camped in the attacking half, but some terrific goal line defence from the Rolling Raiders kept the Barbarians at bay.
The next few minutes involved plenty of attacking footy, before a well-timed cut out pass from Mitchell Sentence put Anthony McQueen over in the corner to open up the scoring for the Rolling Raiders to take the score to 14-4, 10 minutes into the second half.
The next few minutes produced much of the same, with limited attacking opportunities opening up, before some individual brilliance allowing Rolling Raiders captain Brad Burns to crash over for their second try of the afternoon, the score now reading 14-8.
With time running out, the Raiders continued to attack the Barbarians line, but it wasn’t too be. The Barbarians holding on for a gritty 14-8 victory, in what was an outstanding result for both teams.
Rolling Raiders captain Brad Burns was a well-deserved player of the match, receiving the Best and Fairest award.
The Rolling Raiders received several other awards on the day, with Victoria Simpson receiving the Team Award, Michael Skerry receiving Most Improved, and Mitchell Sentence being recognized with the Rising Star award.
Photos by Jacinta Burns
