Canberra have withstood a Junior Amone-inspired comeback from spirited St George Illawarra, scoring a 36-26 victory and maintaining their reputation as the NRL’s most chaotic winners.
The Raiders cruised to a 24-6 halftime lead on Friday night by exploiting the Dragons’ notoriously leaky left edge, Matt Timoko starring for Canberra in Wollongong.
But just as Canberra looked ready to kick their habit of only triumphing by single digits, Amone helped the Dragons pile on three tries in seven minutes, defying the absence of disgruntled State of Origin representative Ben Hunt.
The Dragons had to contend with injuries to stand-in fullback Paul Turner (back), highly touted playmaker Jayden Sullivan (hamstring), and hooker Jacob Liddle (head knock) in their pursuit of an upset.
But in the 71st minute, a try to fullback Seb Kris returned the momentum to the Raiders, who squeaked home to hold onto fifth spot.
Incredibly, the 10-point margin marked Canberra’s biggest victory from 11 wins this year.
The game also featured one of the great try celebrations of recent memory.
After winger Jordan Rapana crossed for the first try of the night, the Raiders positioned themselves around the corner-post to recreate Australia’s notorious dismissal of England’s Jonny Bairstow in last week’s second Ashes Test.
Born in Bradford, the same English city as Bairstow, Raiders captain Elliott Whitehead assumed the role of the wandering batter, while State of Origin representative Hudson Young stood in as umpire and Zac Woolford played Alex Carey behind the ‘stumps’.
It was Timoko’s line break down the right edge that put the Raiders in position to score that try.
He extended the lead to 18-0 when the ball went through hands and found him on the right.
He grabbed a second try after the break when Matt Frawley’s kick to the wing caught Saints’ edge infield.
But Amone appeared intent on challenging Timoko for man-of-the-match honours and hoisting the Dragons back to the winner’s circle after two hefty back-to-back defeats.
Amone pounced on a Blake Lawrie offload to send the Dragons on the way to Mikaele Ravalawa’s try in the 56th minute, put up the kick that sent Zac Lomax over in the 61st and threw the cut-out pass that confirmed Ravalawa’s hat-trick two minutes after that.
Suddenly, the Dragons had clawed back from 30-10 to 30-26.
But when Kris dummied to the right and cut through the defence, the Raiders spoiled the fairytale and consigned the Dragons to a third-straight loss.
With middle forwards Corey Horsburgh (State of Origin), Pasami Saulo (head knock) and Josh Papalii (hamstring injury) all unavailable, Raiders five-eighth Jack Wighton switched to lock for the first time in his career and finished with 21 tackles and 60 run metres.