The Canberra Raiders chaotic season has continued, with the side from the nation's capital notching up a four point win over the lowly Wests Tigers that was anything but convincing.
The match started with both sides looking threatening on occasion but continually making silly mistakes, particularly on the last parts of plays that would've led to tries. Albert Hopoate made it over the line on a sweeping play but knocked on, while in the next set Jahream Bula won an aerial contest for the ball but did a double movement once he got to the ground.
Despite all the scoring opportunities and close calls, the first try amazingly didn't come until the 26th minute when Jack Wighton opted to put a lofted chip kick in about 30 metres out from the Tigers line. The bounce was very kind to the chasing Seb Kris, who grabbed the ball and fell to the ground to score.
The Raiders looked to have shaken the cobwebs out after that; they got a penalty in the next set for a strip and scored a textbook try as a result when Hudson Young ran a good line to go through a hole and plant the ball down.
With 4 minutes left in the half, the Raiders were again attacking and could've made things easy for themselves with another try before the break. Instead, Wighton threw an intercept to David Nofoaluma, who ran 70 metres before stepping inside and finding Luke Brooks, who threw it wide to Charlie Staines who had enough gas in the tank to get to the line.
All of a sudden, what could've been a 16-point game at half time was a four point game.
The Raiders were first on the board in the second half in a controversial try. A pass was thrown from Wighton to Kris that allowed the outside back to get into space, but replays showed it was clearly forward. Nonetheless, Kris played on, and scored one of the great individual tries when he turned inside and used his speed to beat five separate Tigers defenders.
The Tigers would strike back from nowhere about 10 minutes later, when Luke Brooks' bomb was contested by Jahream Bula, the young fullback tapping the ball back to Api Koroisau, who found David Nofoaluma with a pinpoint crossfield kick to score close to the posts.
The players were dropping like flies, Elliott Whitehead and Daine Laurie going off for HIAs following a head clash, joining Seb Kris on the sidelines who injured his hamstring.
The Raiders extended their lead again, with Rapana stepping past a few Tigers defenders before passing a nice short ball to Timoko, who scored with ease.
With a 10-point lead against the last placed team at home, you'd think the Raiders would comfortably see it through to the end, but their job was made harder when Nick Cotric left the field for an HIA, forcing a makeshift backline to be employed by Ricky Stuart. The Tigers struck immediately, with Api Koroisau notching up another try assist off the boot when he grubbered for Luke Brooks to score under the posts.
It was 22-18 and the Tigers were coming home strong, but despite several more chaotic plays and near misses, it would be the Raiders who held on for the win to set up a clash in Melbourne next week against the Storm where the winner will finish the Round in outright fourth position. The Tigers meanwhile will play a "home" game against the Warriors in New Zealand.