June 14, 2014, 11:09 p.m.
Canberra's country championships drought will continue for at least one more year after it lost a semi-final thriller to Newcastle 34-28 at Wyong on Saturday.
Canberra's country championships drought will continue for at least one more year after it lost a semi-final thriller to Newcastle 34-28 at Wyong on Saturday.
Searching for its first title in 15 years, Canberra looked in control when it raced to a 16-0 first-half lead.
But sloppy errors came back to bite them, Newcastle booking a place in the final against Illawarra, which beat Central Coast 22-6 in the other semi-final.
Despite the dominance of Canberra's right edge, its title hopes ended prematurely once again.
Former Canberra Raiders centre David Howell and winger Dwayne Connors both scored two tries, with back-rower Richard Kelly and young half Carl Johnson also influential.
Coach Jack Giddings said his side shot themselves in the foot with some simple mistakes.
"Our right side shredded them all game, but what brought us undone was a couple of early errors in the tackle count coming out of our red zone,'' Giddings said.
"Newcastle was pretty tough and worked hard in the middle, and basically capitalised on our errors.
"There were showers when we got to the ground and it was a pretty slippery surface.''
Canberra's cause wasn't helped by the early exit of five-eighth Chris Thorley and back-rower Aidan Woods to knee injuries.
Belconnen Scholar Thorley's injury isn't serious, but Woods is expected to be assessed.
The Country Championships final will be held at Tamworth's Scully Park on Saturday, June 21.
NEWCASTLE 34 (Royce Geoffrey 2, Brendan Worth, Jake Finn, Jermaine Ale, Riley Brown tries; Joel Brown 5 goals) bt CANBERRA 28 (David Howell 2, Dwayne Connors 2, Michael Brophy tries; Dwayne Connors 4 goals)
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