BY ROB

The NRLW Canberra Raiders confirmed their credentials with a consecutive home win against an away side, who much like the Roosters last week, would have arrived in the capital as favourites.

Wests Tigers annihilated the hapless Eels in round one before keeping the Sharks (who had bested Canberra in their first ever game) scoreless in round two. The Raiders sized up the Campbelltown contingent and then set about dismantling much of their attacking functionality. The Raiders forwards, led by the likes of Holyman and Dodd, laid the platform in the opening minutes, bustling upfield.

The first try came just four minutes in, when the Tigers failed to clean up a Zahara Temara grubber that spliced its way between the uprights. The ever-quick-thinking Ash Quinlan dove over the disgraced defender to ground the ball. The second try came just four minutes later. With the ball being played on the Tiger’s line Chante Temara promptly distributed it to her sister on the right, who in turn just shaped ever so slightly to put Hollie-Mae Dodd through a suddenly expanding gap.

The Tigers struck back after Nicholls was unable to defuse a 40/20, which despite being tapped back in by her cruelly spun into touch anyway. From there Wests initiated a full width shift, pushing the ball out to the far left and scoring in that corner courtesy of Leianne Tufuga. The Tigers went left again in the 21st minute, with Kezie Apps straightening close to the line and then using her height and strength to reach the in-goal and score.

Sensing a shift Borthwick deployed his defensive big-guns: Kemp and Matua. While Kemp has quickly become a cult hero across the first two rounds (and did great things again today) Matua was most deserving of top accolades. She deployed some absolutely sterling hits, and followed those up with her most determined carries so far. More than half of her metres gained came in the form of post contact work.

The Raiders scored again twelve minutes into the second half. Perched on the Tigers line they got an exceptional ball out from dummy half to ZT who fired off a pass to Shakiah Tungai on the wing. Tungai dived low as a defender slid in to cover her off, bringing the Raiders up to 16 on the scoreboard. Canberra then came at the Tigers right side. Again right on Wests line, this time Chante Temara deployed a quick pass out to Quinlan, who in turn found Monalisa Soliola ready to stroll through another gap in the Tigers defence.

Wests were in an attacking mood, but found their progress rudely interrupted by Tungai, who saw a left side sweep building and punched the ball out of mid air. She was chased down by Apps, but the Tiger’s forward made the mistake of holding on too long and copped a sin bin.Armed now with possession and numbers the Raiders went left again, this time finding Cheyelle Robins-Reti burrowing her way in-between the legs of defenders after bringing the ball back against the grain.

With the Raiders leading 28-12 the Tigers gained control again, scoring two more through Leianne Tufuga to give her a hat-trick. Their last gasp chance fell short when Curtain put in a low arcing kick which Apii Nicholls took like it was an Ashes winning slips catch.

The close score line belies Canberra’s dominance and control of this game. At no time did they ever look flustered or panicked. They laid a strong platform of teamwork and topped it off with a dusting of brilliance from various individuals.

Taufa put in some absolute top-grit work through the middle, with 14 carries for 182 metres. The most impressive aspect however is the fact that 105 of those metres came with defenders hanging off her like toddlers desperate to stop their parents leaving daycare drop-off. She also racked up a team-high 29 tackles to boot.

There were some low moments. A short period in the middle of the game featured Canberra dropping the ball twice because their ruck speed was too fast. Emma Barnes struggled through the middle of the match before coming off for a HIA after just thirteen minutes on the pitch. Shakiah Tungai had to be helped off by trainers in the final minutes but early reports suggest a mild injury.

Once again a contender came a-calling, and again the Raiders stared them down and then proceeded to beat them into submission. Bring in the Dragons!

This game was viewed while Rob was entertaining a 4yo so you’ll have to forgive him if some of the details are sparse. You can follow Rob on Twitter here. Or you can do us a solid and like our page on Facebook, follow Dan on Twitter (or Threads!) or share this on social media. Don’t hesitate to send us feedback (dan@sportress.org) or comment below if you think we are stupid. Or if we’re not.