Raiders Incredible Sulk after Hulking loss

The New Zealand Warriors have broken a 17 year hoodoo at GIO Stadium to inflict a 54-18 win over the Canberra Raiders in front of just under 8,000 fans.

The start of the game was good for the Raiders with early pressure in the opening sets being put on the Warriors defence but when the Raiders failed to hold the ball from a scrum, the signs were already up that it was going to be a long afternoon.

The Warriors then started their own carve up of the Raiders going 90m in their first set of six and on the last play of that set Sione Lousi used his strength to score for the Warriors.

Soon after the roll on of tries started for the Warriors with some magic from Sam Tomkins giving them their second try of the afternoon which was followed up soon after by Konrad Hurrell who had to wait for Video Referee approval first.

The routine Video Refereeing controversy appeared when the Warriors were awarded a try from video referees Ashley Klein & Ben Galea despite the appearance of a massive obstruction by Feleti Mateo which allowed Ben Matulino to run through a huge gap.

The final try of the first half for the Warriors came through Sam Rapira and following that the scores went to 28-0 at half time.

The second half finished the same way as the first half ended with Sam Rapira scoring his second of the afternoon after just 4 minutes.

The second half was a free for all when it came to points scoring with Manu Vatuvei picking up a second half hattrick, Ngani Laumape also picked a second half try.

The last 15 minutes was the golden section of the afternoon for the Raiders when they picked up 3 late tries to Josh McCrone, Paul Vaughan and Reece Robinson with all 3 being converted by Jarrod Croker to puts some respectability into the scoreline.

Next weekend the Warriors head back across the Tasman to take on the Cronulla Sharks next Sunday afternoon meanwhile the Canberra Raiders travel to the top end to take on the Parramatta Eels at TIO Stadium in Darwin.

CANBERRA RAIDERS (18)
Tries: Josh McCrone, Paul Vaughan, Reece Robinson
Field Goals:
Conversions: Jarrod Croker (3/3)
Penalty Goals:

NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS (54)
Tries: Sione Lousi, Sam Tomkins, Konrad Hurrell, Ben Matulino, Sam Rapira (2), Manu Vatuvei (3), Ngani Laumape
Field Goals:
Conversions: Chad Townsend (7/10)
Penalty Goals:

TEAM CHANGES: RAIDERS: Sami Sauiluma is OUT (played NSW Cup yesterday) Brenko Lee comes into the side in jersey 18, meanwhile Joel Edwards drops back to the bench with Shannon Boyd starting in jersey 17

WARRIORS: Shaun Johnson is OUT, replaced by Thomas Leuluai in the starting side, Ben Henry is OUT, Sione Lousi starts in jersey 20, Tuimoala Lolohea comes on to the bench in jersey 18

2: Well that was an absolute brain snap from Ngani Laumape who threw the ball back infield with no pressure on the kick has put his side under pressure & Raiders force the dropout

3: UNFORCED ERROR CANBERRA RAIDERS
Shaun Fensom makes an unforced error.
The Warriors get their first possession after a poor attacking play from the Raiders

5: TRY NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Scored by Sione Lousi. Kick to come.
The "Kiwi sideshow Bob" gets the ball on the last and he uses his strength to score after an excellent move back on the first tackle from the scrum

7: UNSUCCESSFUL CONVERSION NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Conversion attempt by Chad Townsend unsuccessful.
The conversion from the sideline is no good

8: Chad Townsend shows control off that set finding touch about 25m out from the Raiders line

9: Well that was an interesting play from the scrum - Raiders stack the open side, go to the blindside through Milford who kicks back to the open side and they get the ball back

12: Konrad Hurrell just barnstorms up the field whilst 2 Raiders defenders hold on for the ride

13: TRY NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Scored by Sam Tomkins. Kick to come.
Sam Tomkins mesmerises the Raiders with a beautiful dummy with 4 defenders falling for it and the seas parted

15: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Conversion attempt by Chad Townsend successful.
Chad Townsend converts from in front

17: Well he scores tries but can't take a kick off, Sam Tomkins misjudges his catch and it goes dead

19: Raiders forced to try the second kick but no problems for the Warriors defending it close to their own line

20: PENALTY RAIDERS: Gavin Morris penalises the Warriors for "Staying in the Ruck"

21: Another repeat set forced by the Raiders, with Manu Vatuvei forced to bat the ball dead

22: PENALTY RAIDERS: Warriors again penalised for staying in the ruck

23: UNFORCED ERROR CANBERRA RAIDERS
Jarrod Croker makes an unforced error.
With a full set ahead of them the Raiders lose the ball on tackle 1

23: PENALTY WARRIORS: Raiders now too slow away from the Ruck according to Gavin Morris, Penalty count now 2-2

25: UNFORCED ERROR NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Manu Vatuvei makes an unforced error.
Bit of an attacking misread from Nathan Friend puts Manu Vatuvei under pressure and he drops the ball

27: PENALTY RAIDERS: Josh Papalii penalised for an illegal low tackle, a.k.a third man in below the knees

28: VIDEO REFEREE: Gavin 2 (Gavin Reynolds) has sent a possible Ben Matulino try, checking a knock on in the lead up, Gavin Reynolds says NO TRY

28: TRY NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Scored by Konrad Hurrell. Kick to come.
Konrad Hurrell gets the green lights on the try, some excellent lead up work from the Warriors especially Sam Tomkins left the Raiders defence guessing

30: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Conversion attempt by Chad Townsend successful.
Chad Townsend converts the goal

32: So after a strange review, we get a tap from the Video Referee decision after the touch judge missed the kick for touch hitting the sideline

32: VIDEO REFEREE: Back upstairs we go, Ben Matulino scores, the 2 Gavins have a TRY, checking obstruction

32: TRY NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Scored by Ben Matulino. Kick to come.
Ben Matulino gets the green lights for the try despite an apparent obstruction by Feleti Mateo

34: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Conversion attempt by Chad Townsend successful.
Chad Townsend converts the try

38: TRY NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Scored by Sam Rapira. Kick to come.
Sam Rapira goes through a massive gap that fell for Feleti Mateo's lead up play and the Warriors are in again

39: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Conversion attempt by Chad Townsend successful.
Chad Townsend puts another conversion over to extend the lead

40: Half Time at GIO Stadium - its the Warriors 28 leading the Raiders 0

41: Play back underway in the second half at GIO Stadium

41: Dane Tilse throws an offload with Gavin Morris looking like he was the intended target

44: Another full set close to the Raiders line for the Warriors after Gavin Morris calls six again off a kick

44: TRY NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Scored by Sam Rapira. Kick to come.
Sam Rapira gets his second off the game after being set up once again by Feleti Mateo

44: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Conversion attempt by Chad Townsend successful.
Chad Townsend has little problems converting from in front

44: Poor finish there for the Warriors with a knock on

49: UNFORCED ERROR CANBERRA RAIDERS
Jarrod Croker makes an unforced error.
Jarrod Croker loses the ball on an attacking raid

50: UNFORCED ERROR CANBERRA RAIDERS
Reece Robinson makes an unforced error.
That was just bad from Reece Robinson, stands on the ball and loses balance whilst trying to play it and the dummy half loses it

53: TRY NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Scored by Manu Vatuvei. Kick to come.
Manu Vatuvei uses his strength to get the ball to land straight into his arms and score a try

55: UNSUCCESSFUL CONVERSION NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Conversion attempt by Chad Townsend unsuccessful.
Chad Townsend misses the conversion from the sideline

58: TRY NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Scored by Ngani Laumape. Kick to come.
Ngani Laumape scores after a beautiful run from Tui Lolohea then a ball that is almost pass of the season

59: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Conversion attempt by Chad Townsend successful.
Chad Townsend has converted yet another try

61: Plenty of pressure on Tui Lolohea off a Josh McCrone bomb but Lolohea takes it beautifully

63: Reece Robinson flies down the sideline but ruled to have put a foot on the sideline

64: TRY NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Scored by Manu Vatuvei. Kick to come.
The beast gets a DOUBLE - some simple hands from the Warriors gives Manu Vatuvei some space and he scores in the corner

66: UNSUCCESSFUL CONVERSION NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Conversion attempt by Chad Townsend unsuccessful.
Chad Townsend puts just a touch too much hook on the ball and can't crack the 50

68: UNFORCED ERROR CANBERRA RAIDERS
Anthony Milford makes an unforced error.
Anthony Milford makes a mistake on the kick and Warriors get the ball 10m out

69: TRY NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Scored by Manu Vatuvei. Kick to come.
The Warriors again isolate Brenko Lee and Manu Vatuvei gets his third try of the afternoon

69: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
Conversion attempt by Chad Townsend successful.
Chad Townsend swings the ball back in and converts the try from out wide

74: UNFORCED ERROR CANBERRA RAIDERS
Anthony Milford makes an unforced error.
Anthony Milford makes a mistake off an attacking play from the Raiders

74: VIDEO REFEREE: Possible Raiders try

76: TRY CANBERRA RAIDERS
Scored by Josh McCrone. Kick to come.
Josh McCrone gets the green lights

77: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION CANBERRA RAIDERS
Conversion attempt by Jarrod Croker successful.
No problems for Jarrod Croker from in front

78: TRY CANBERRA RAIDERS
Scored by Paul Vaughan. Kick to come.
Paul Vaughan sets up the Raiders with good attacking possession and as a reward he gets the TRY

79: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION CANBERRA RAIDERS
Conversion attempt by Jarrod Croker successful.
Jarrod Croker converts again to close the gap ever so slightly

80: TRY CANBERRA RAIDERS
Scored by Reece Robinson. Kick to come.
Some good work for the Raiders to see them get a third try in 5 minutes

80: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION CANBERRA RAIDERS
Conversion attempt by Jarrod Croker successful.
Jarrod Croker converts from out wide