An early try-of-the-year contender in the dying minutes has sealed a 24-20 comeback NRL victory for Canberra against Cronulla at GIO Stadium.
Down by two points with 90 seconds remaining and Canberra seemingly out of ideas in attack, the Green Machine spread the ball from sideline to sideline before it eventually ended up in the hands of Xavier Savage. His kick set off the final stage of a play that also included Kaeo Weekes and Simi Sasagi.
In the end, it was Sebastian Kris who scored the try that sent the 10,000-strong Canberra faithful into raptures on Thursday night.
The win lifts the Raiders into the top eight as they prepare for a tricky trip to Darwin to face bottom-dwellers Parramatta.
The dramatic finish was the only moment of note in an otherwise dour second half.
The Raiders had been down to 12 men temporarily after the NRL’s latest high tackle crackdown claimed its first victim.
Canberra second-rower Hudson Young was sent to the sin-bin for a relatively innocuous shot on Cronulla captain Cameron McInnes in the 58th minute.
Sebastian Kris and Josh Papalii celebrate the match winner.Credit: Getty Images
Cronulla failed to capitalise on their numerical advantage with a try, scoring just two points while Young was off the field.
Coaches had been put on notice by the league ahead of round six that direct forceful contact to the head would result in 10 minutes on the sidelines.
If Young’s hit was direct and forceful, it was hardly more so than a shot from Cronulla forward Billy Burns on Matt Timoko in the first half, that referee Todd Smith deemed worthy only of a penalty.
Canberra and Cronulla went try for try in the first half, scoring three apiece to enter the interval level locked at 18-18.
First, Matty Nicholson stormed over for the home side, before Mawene Hiroti, deputising in the centres for the injured Kayal Iro, split the gap between Timoko and Savage.
Then Young got on the end of a Tom Starling grubber kick, only for his try to be cancelled out by Briton Nikora’s first of the match following some limp defending by Kris and Ethan Strange.
A second try for Young was followed by another to his opposite number.
Nikora, latching onto the ball after a breakdown in the attack on the last tackle, attempted to grubber past Canberra No.13 Corey Horsburgh.
The ball ricocheted off Horsburgh’s knees and back into the path of Nikora, who instinctively stuck out a toe, kicked it a third time, and dotted down in the in-goal.
After two losses on the trot, Cronulla next face a high-flying Manly side.
AAP