Raiders hold out tenacious Titans

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Canberra Raiders v Gold Coast Titans

Canberra have held on against a strong performing Gold Coast Titans with a 22-16 victory at GIO Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Key takeaways:

• Canberra started strongly, with two first-half tries before the Titans clawed one back.
• Gold Coast appeared to claw things back late in the half when David Fifita claimed a second try, but the Bunker controversially overturned the call. Canberra led 12-6 at change of ends.
• The visitors were stronger out of the sheds, scoring to narrow the gap to two, but the two sides then traded tries for the rest of the game, Canberra ultimately taking a 10-point lead with five minutes remaining to all-but shut out the hope for a Titans win.
• A late try for Tino Fa'asuamaleaui wasn't enough to give the Gold Coast a miracle late win.

Albert Hopoate was over for the home team inside three minutes in an ominous sign, but the Titans managed to wrestle back a bit of momentum and it was end-to-end for much of the opening quarter of the match, before Seb Kris got on the end of a Fogarty bomb to put the Raiders two tries clear.

From there the Titans did turn it around - Fifita scored his side's opening try at the 23 minute mark off a grubber from Aloifana Khan-Pereira which narrow the gap to six.

The Titans appeared to dominate much of the rest of the half but it was the final minute which provided the biggest turning point - Fifita was claiming his second try - and while Todd Smith had awarded it, the Bunker had other ideas, with Kasey Badger ruling (controversially) that he'd held back a Raiders player chasing the ball.

Trailing 12-6 at the break, Gold Coast came out strongly after halftime, with Jojo Fifita ensuring the Titans' scoresheet remained mostly Fifita's. Brimson threw a superb ball out for the makeshift winger (who had replaced Phil Sami late before kickoff). Tanah Boyd's missed conversion meant Canberra retained the lead, but it was reduced to two.

Canberra fired back at 50 minutes with a bizarre passage of play. Khan-Pereira looked to have scored in the corner off an advantage play in the corner - the ball not grounded in the corner but instead bounced into the hands of Raiders' half Jamal Fogarty. Fogarty found Rapana who then delivered it to Timoko who ran 90 metres for a superb long-range try, if not an odd one. With Croker converting the lead stretched to eight points for the home team.

The two sides went toe-to-toe for the last half-hour of the game, in an entertaining contest. Khan-Pereira finally got his try at the 63 minute mark to narrow the deficit to two points; but the Raiders effectively secured the win at 74 minutes when Tom Starling reinstated the 8-point buffer, reaching out for a crucial try. Croker converted it, then added a penalty goal some four minutes later.

The Titans would enjoy a late surge on the back of a short kickoff with Tino Fa'asuamaleaui scoring a late consolation but it wouldn't be enough for the visitors, who fell short by four points.