Canberra Raiders face knockout bout with Sydney Roosters after beating Cronulla Sharks in NRL elimination final
A grand-final ‘rematch’ is on after Canberra survived a scare to beat the Cronulla Sharks 32-20.
A grand-final “rematch’’ is on after the Canberra Raiders survived a scare to come from behind to beat the Cronulla Sharks 32-20 in their NRL elimination final on Saturday.
Jack Wighton sparked his side in the second half, scoring two tries in three minutes after the home side trailed 14-6 at half-time in front of 9602 people at GIO Stadium in Canberra with the Raiders racing in 26 unanswered points.
What awaits Canberra now is an NRL knockout match against bitter rivals the Sydney Roosters, who lost by one point to the Penrith Panthers on Friday night.
The Raiders’ premiership dreams were shattered last year by the Roosters in controversial fashion in he grand final, but they beat them 24-20 when the sides clashed in round 10 last July.
Raiders coach Ricky Stuart did not want to buy into the grand-final rematch scenario, but praised his team for their efforts.
“I’m still digesting tonight,” Stuart said. “We are fortunate we were only down that amount of points at half-time.
“That first half gave us a wonderful opportunity to get back in the game. I wouldn’t have liked to have been down by more than that. “I was quite amazed it was 14-10 at half-time.”
The Sharks finish the year without beating a top eight side, and battled with injuries last night — losing two hookers.
Cronulla started easily the better side but two first half lapses cost them dearly, allowing Canberra to score the first and last try of the opening half.
With nothing but pure determination, lock Joe Tapine carried four Cronulla defenders over the tryline to score the first try of the match after nine minutes. Tapine had extra motivation heading into the match.
“I haven’t scored many this year,” Tapine said. “I had a bet with my wife saying I would score. Let’s just say I’m getting paid.”
Skipper Wade Graham’s intercept threw an intercept pass to allow Raiders halfback George Williams to race away and have the home side trailing by just four at the break.
The Sharks dominated possession with 64 per cent in the first half and forced four line drop-outs led by the boot of Chad Townsend including one from the Sharks’ opening set.
With his team behind in points, Wighton turned it on by scoring the first two tries of the second half and laying on the third.
The first brought about remonstration from Graham, who attempted to alert referee Grant Atkins to a captain’s challenge.
While Graham yelled, Wighton took a quick tap and scored. Graham and Atkins exchanged words after the try was awarded, with the Sharks skipper screaming at Atkins that he wanted to challenge.
Atkins said the Sharks could not challenge, because it was a ruck infringement.
NRL head of football Graham Annesley backed the decision by Atkins to play-on. “A ruck infringement decision cannot be challenged as it a discretionary decision under the rules,” Annesley said. “A quick tap is permitted from a penalty awarded more than 10 metres from the goal line.”
Cronulla coach John Morris said his side should have done better in the lead-up to the try.
Wighton scored his second just three minutes later when he plucked a cross-field kick before laying on Williams’ second.
Cronulla’s Sione Katoa raced 95 metres to score an intercept try to close out the scoring.
Stuart said Wighton can only get better but praised his combination with Williams, who are in their first full season as a duo.
“The two halves got us right back into it,” Stuart said. “They both played extremely well. I commended them on their performance to the boys downstairs. I don’t usually single out people. They threw the team on their shoulders. Basically took us forward. I love that in halves. You know, c’mon follow me.”
FULL REPORT: here
The Sunday Telegraph
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