A disappointing first half has seen the NYC side go down to the Raiders 44-26 this afternoon in the nation’s capital.
There was just one change to the NYC side with Michael Morgan ruled out due to injury and David Murphy coming off the bench to start. Royce Hunt was the man to come on to the interchange bench.
The first half was one to forget for the Bulldogs with the home side running in six first half tries to the young pups’ one. With five of the tries being converted it was the ‘green machine’ who were leading 34-6 at the break.
Tries in the 3rd, 6th, 11th, 14th, 27th and 37th minutes put the Raiders out to a convincing lead and one that would be hard to run down. Back rower Scott Doyle was a stand out for the home side, scoring two tries and kicking five goals. The other scorers were five-eighth Andrew Heffernan, winger Lachlan Hurst and Captain Matt Frawley all crossing for four-pointers.
The Bulldogs built a bit of pressure towards the back end of the half with back rower Renouf To’omaga crossing for a try. Brad Keighran converted to close the gap to 38-6.
The second half started in similar fashion to the first with the Raiders crossing early. It was that man from the first half, Doyle, who registered his hat-trick. He couldn’t convert his try, leaving the score at 38-6 after 46 minutes.
As they did last week, the Bulldogs started a comeback crossing for three tries in 12 minutes. Back rower Sam Gerrey-Burgess crossed for a double with tries in the 50th and 60th minutes whilst interchange hooker Alex Sorge went over under the uprights off the back of a mid-field break. Keighran could only convert one of the tries to close the gap to 38-20 after 62 minutes.
That run was stopped when the Raiders went over in the 76th minute through centre Jack Creith. As they had done all afternoon, they busted through the middle and a tip-on before hitting the fullback sent the centre into open space and under the posts to score. Doyle again converted to extend the lead out to 44-20.
With the full-time siren about to sound, David Murphy went over to score and with Keighran converting, with the scoreboard reading 44-26 as both sides shook hands.
The Bulldogs will have a bye next weekend before taking on the Sea-Eagles at ANZ Stadium on Friday, 4 July.
RAIDERS 44 (Doyle 3, Heffernan, Hurst, Barnett, Frawley, Creith Tries; Doyle 6 Goals)
Def.
BULLDOGS 26 (Gerrey-Burgess 2, To’omaga, Sorge, Murphy Try; Keighran 3 Goals)
At: GIO Stadium, Canberra
