Round 18
Canberra Raiders 56 d. Gold Coast Titans 10

2007 NRL Telstra Premiership Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

Location: Aus_NZ > National > First Grade Competition: NRL Telstra Premiership

Raiders blow Titans off park
Sun July 15, 2007
The Canberra Raiders have sent a message to the NRL that they will remain more than minor nuisance value for the rest of the competition with a brutal 56-10 demolition of the Gold Coast Titans at Canberra Stadium.

On a chilly sunny afternoon the Raiders took control of the match responding from a 10-6 deficit late in the second half with a three try blitz during the six minutes leading into the halftime break.

Any comeback was impossible for the Titans as they suffered a hefty injury toll that included Brett Delaney, Matt Petersen and Scott Prince.

The Raiders opened the scoring after only two minutes, finding a hole mid-field allowing Bronx Goodwin to score under the posts.

The Titans looked more than competitive early in the match and responded with a 19th minute try to Luke O'Dwyer. Eight minutes later Brett Delaney extended the lead to 10-6 with a four pointer.

From there it was one way traffic as the Raiders amassed 50 unanswered points.

The turnaround was the blitz before halftime. Michael Weyman put the Raiders on level terms barging over under the posts.

The Raiders found themselves on the attack moments later with Alan Tongue doing it all himself running to the defensive line, grubbering and regathering to score besides the posts.

A mistake by Preston Campbell put the Raiders in attack once more and rookie forward Joe Picker was on the spot to slam the ball down as the Titans failed to regroup in defence right on halftime.

Ahead 24-10 at the break the Raiders were never going to be run down as the injury toll mounted for the Titans.

Scott Prince came from the field early in the second half with a recurrence of the collarbone injury he suffered in last weeks match against the Broncos.

Matt Petersen is facing a possible season ending knee injury and centre Brett Delaney also left the field with shoulder trouble.

Tries to William Zillman 49th, Michael Dobson 55th, David Milne 63rd, Lincoln Withers 66th, Phil Graham 73rd and Todd Carney 77th saw the Raiders run out big victors.

The Raiders looked more polished with the return of Michael Dobson to halfback in partnership with Todd Carney.

"A scoreline like that doesn't come down to one or two areas," Titans coach John Cartwright said.

"When the game got out of reach the most disappointing thing (is that) the floodgates just opened and there's no excuse, there's no reason to get a score line like that against you.

"Whether Scotty Prince was fully fit today or not we would have lost because the forwards lost it through the middle."

The Titans face the desperate Bulldogs next weekend as both sides battle injuries to keep their finals hopes alive. The loser of next weeks match, could well kiss their changes goodbye in 2007.

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