The Canberra Raiders keep their finals hopes alive with a six-point comeback victory over the Newcastle Knights.
It was a beautiful afternoon in Newcastle, and it started perfectly for the Knights who opened the scoring just five minutes into the clash through a left edge shift which saw Edrick Lee score his first of the afternoon in the corner. The Raiders, with their season on the line responded in quick fashion with Sebastian Kris scoring his own try on the left edge as he got on the outside of Dane Gagai and beat him one-on-one to level the scores.
To the surprise of most, the Knights turned it on scoring the next two tries through 21-year-old Dominic Young. After a poor start to the night, Young's first four-pointer was thanks to a nice right edge shift from the Knights which caught the Raiders out for numbers. Young scored again not long after and this time it was the brilliance of Dane Gagai, who returned serve to Kris with a great move that left the Raiders' centre in his wake before drawing Tex Hoy and passing to Young for his second of the afternoon.
With only 12 points to show for their three tries, the Knights kept on going regardless until the Raiders struck in the 32nd minute with a right side shift through the hands which caught the Knights out for numbers allowing Jordan Rapana to score in the corner. However, the Knights struck back immediately with another Edrick Lee try, this time thanks to a great cross field kick from Milford. The Knights added another before the break, through Jayden Brailey as they took a 22-8 point lead into the half.
The Knights of the first half failed to show up in the second half with the Raiders grabbing a try right from the get-go. Kris grabbed his second of the afternoon through a Fogarty bomb kick which was uncontested by the Knights. Six minutes later, Hudson Young brought the Raiders to within two points with an acrobatic finish, beating Hoy to the ball as he grounded a grubber kick just before the dead ball line.
The Knights continued their horror start to the second half by gifting the Raiders a penalty in front of goal which Fogarty used to convert a penalty goal and draw the scores level at 22. The next 20 minutes saw some sloppy play, but a bit of feeling entered the game as both sides fought for the victory. Then the Raiders scored the match-winning try in the 72nd minute after a line break from Josh Papali'i broke open the game, who passed to Joseph Tapine and he threw a wild pass out wide which found Jack Wighton who scored in the corner to give the Raiders the lead.
The Raiders survived a scare in the final minutes as Edrick Lee came inches from giving the Knights a chance to level the game. It was one that got away from the Knights as the Raiders keep their season alive.