Brain snap costs Raiders as Dragons prevail in extra time

v BYE

A moment of madness from Canberra duo Jordan Rapana and Jack Wighton has produced an 85th minute intercept-try to Euan Aitken, seeing St. George Illawarra come away with a 16-12 win at UOW Jubilee Oval in front of 9,647 fans tonight.

With the first half of extra time seemingly concluded, the Raiders duo came up with two reckless passes that allowed the Dragons to break a 12-all deadlock, in a game littered with poor execution from both sides.

In a first half that failed to reach any great heights, both sides let several try-scoring situations fall by the wayside with poor execution.

Joey Leilua appeared to strike first in the seventh minute, but following review from the Bunker, the on-field ruling that the Raiders centre lost possession was upheld.

The Dragons posted the only points of the first half following a strong charge by interchange forward Jake Marketo, on the next play Tyson Frizell crashed over from next to the posts to give the home side a 6-0 advantage at the break.

Adding a penalty goal in the 49th minute the Dragons appeared in control, but shortly after the Raiders posted their first points through Rapana, following strong lead-up work by Edrick Lee.

With the Raiders seemingly gaining the ascendancy, a fortuitous piece of play from Jason Nightingale allowed Tim Lafai to touch down for his first try for the Dragons in the 63rd minute.

Needing to convert from the sideline to put the home side beyond a converted try, Dragons captain Gareth Widdop pushed his kick wide to leave the scores at 12-6 heading into the closing stages.

Just before fulltime, another break by Lee saw Jarrod Croker level the scores at 12-all, sending the match into golden point. In scoring the try, Croker surpassed David Furner to become the highest point scorer in the history of the Canberra Raiders.

With both sides exchanging shots at field goal the match appeared headed for a second period of extra time, but a flick pass from Rapana inside his own half was compounded by Wighton who's cut-out ball was snatched up by Aitken to give the home side the win.

While the Dragons came away with the win, both coaches will be hoping for major improvements from their respective sides, as poor execution proved costly throughout the match.

Next week, the Dragons face South Sydney on Thursday night at ANZ Stadium, while Canberra will be looking for redemption against the Warriors on Saturday week in Taranaki.