Raiders too good for spirited Broncos

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Canberra Raiders v Brisbane Broncos

The Raiders have shown good composure to resist a Broncos second half fight back to record their fifth win from six games, downing Brisbane 26-22 at GIO Stadium.

Canberra were the first to get on the board in just the sixth minute thanks to some brilliant work by Jarrod Croker, whose magnificent offload found Nick Cotric who ran down a narrow saloon to dive over in the left corner for a good try. Croker's sideline attempt hit the upright and was waved away.

In the 19th minute with the Broncos just 10m from the Raiders line, levelled the scores. Kodi Nikorima got the ball on the right side at first receiver, spotted a gap in the defensive line and slipped through it to score out wide. Jamayne Isaako's sideline converison attempt, like Croker's earlier, also hit the upright and missed.

The final 10 minutes of the half saw the Raiders take the ascendancy. In the 31st minute and on the last tackle, Jack Wighton ran and drifted right, threw a pass which went to ground. Joey Leilua picks it up, stepped off his right and came back infield to score a good try. Croker though is unable to convert.

Just over 2 minutes later and Leilua bagged a double. John Bateman made a regulation hit-up close to the Broncos line, got his arms free and offloaded to Leilua, who caught the low pass well and scored untouched on the right side. Croker converted.

The Broncos fought back after the break, scoring in the 48th minute after capitalising on a great run down the Raiders right side. They quickly sent the ball right where David Fifita dummied and then slipped past Croker to waltz in for an easy try on the right side. Isaako converted.

7 minutes later, the Broncos took the lead for the first time. Anthony Milford put in a gorgeous grubber on the left side and finds Corey Oates who timed his run brilliantly to regather and score. Isaako converted from the sideline.

They lost the lead 6 minutes later when Bateman decided to go himself from dummy half and he burrowed down to score an incredibly soft try. Croker converted.

In the 66th minute, the home side extended their lead even further with a fortunate try. A Raiders kick was heavily contested by both sides, Wighton tried to leap over a Broncos player to get the bouncing ball, but instead it bounced off his head. Sutton picked up the ball and covered the 5 metres to the try line and stretched out to score despite a defender holding onto his jumper. Croker again converts.

Brisbane didn't give up though and with just under three minutes left and on the attack, they found the Raiders right side defence well short in numbers and Jack Bird dived over for a soft try. Isaako kicked the goal quickly, but the Raiders though managed to hold on to record another good win.