Dominant first-half performance helps Canberra Raiders to 30-18 victory over ... - NEWS.com.au

Flyer ... Edrick Lee goes over to score a try in the corner for Canberra Raiders. Source: News Limited

Canberra burst out of the blocks with four first half tries and survived a late Brisbane fightback to win 30-18 in their NRL clash at Canberra Stadium.

5 Tries 3
Josh McCrone 12'	Scott Prince 39'
Joel Thompson 15'	Matt Gillett 52'
Jarrod Croker 26'	Mitchell Dodds 76'
Edrick Lee 34'
Joel Edwards 64'
5 Conversions 3
Jarrod Croker 14'	Scott Prince 40'
Jarrod Croker 15'	Scott Prince 54'
Jarrod Croker 28'	Scott Prince 76'
Jarrod Croker 36'
Jarrod Croker 65'

The game was built up as the perfect State of Origin audition for Josh Papalii.

However the Canberra enforcer had a mixed night, making a whopping 151 metres in attack yet making several unexpected errors and being put on report for a lifting tackle on Josh Hoffman with just 10 seconds left on the clock.

A crowd of 10,419 braved chilly single figure temperatures at Canberra Stadium and Brisbane's start couldn't have been much colder.

		W	L	D	B	PD	Pts
1	Rabbitohs	10	2	0	1	121	22
2	Storm	9	2	1	1	117	21
3	Roosters	9	3	0	1	148	20
4	Sea Eagles	7	4	1	1	75	17
5	Titans	7	5	0	1	47	16
6	Sharks	6	6	0	1	-14	14
7	Bulldogs	7	6	0	0	-23	14
8	Raiders	6	6	0	1	-43	14
9	Knights	6	7	0	0	43	12
10	Panthers	5	7	0	1	33	12
11	Broncos	5	8	0	0	-23	10
12	Dragons	5	8	0	0	-58	10
13	Warriors	5	8	0	0	-77	10
14	Tigers	4	8	0	1	-160	10
15	Cowboys	4	9	0	0	-43	8
16	Eels	3	9	0	1	-143	8

The Raiders' early 24-point lead was directly reflected in their 94 per cent first half completion rate, failing just once in 18 sets.

It was a piece of aerial magic from in-form centre Blake Ferguson in his 100th NRL game that led to the opening try in the 12th minute.

The NSW Origin representative plucked a Terry Campese bomb out of the air on the 10m line before offloading inches from the ground to a perfectly placed Josh McCrone.

Three more Raiders tries to Joel Thompson, Jarrod Croker and man-of-the-match Edrick Lee looked to put the game out of reach before Brisbane snapped out of hibernation on the cusp of halftime when five-eighth Scott Prince scored and converted to reduce the score to 24-6.

The Broncos were then first to score after the break, Matt Gillett outleaping a hesitant Robinson to score under the posts.

However a barnstorming try from Canberra's Joel Edwards - more a noted defender - put the game out of reach for the visitors, despite a late consolation try to Mitchell Dodds.

The win puts the Raiders up to eighth place, while the Broncos find themselves struggling in 11th place with just five wins from 13 matches.

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Re-live all the action from the Raiders win over the Broncos at our NRL Match Centre, with key stats.

More to come...