Raiders 22 Broncos 14
Canberra withstood a late surge by Brisbane to take a grinding win from their NRL clash at Canberra Stadium last night.
Still smarting from last week's loss to the Panthers, the Raiders looked the goods from the get-go.
They looked to have the Broncos' measure and were up 18-0 at halftime.
But a resurgent Brisbane fought back in the second half.
Two tries to superstar Israel Folau and another to Ben Te'o had the visitors within four points with 15 minutes to play.
But desperate for their first win, the Raiders held firm.
New halfback Josh McCrone crashed over in the last minute of the game for his second try to seal the result in front of 14,200 fans, including Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
The Raiders were on fire from the first kick of the game.
Centre Joel Thompson broke through from short range to notch the their first try four minutes in.
Barely five minutes later, Josh Dugan was on the tailend of a hot ball which passed through at least five sets of hands before getting caught.
Trying to offload under pressure, he flipped the ball up and around, then caught it himself and charged over the line for an extraordinary try.
Terry Campese was another Raider on form, converting three of the four tries.
The Broncos, despite the late inclusions of Folau and vice-captain Corey Parker, looked flat, perhaps battling demons from their last match in Canberra, when they were downed by 56 points.
But two tries to Folau opened up the game again in the second half.
McCrone, a last-minute inclusion over regular halfback Marc Herbert, was the star of the night, proving himself a fine performer particularly at the death.
His first try came just before the halftime siren and his second just before the final buzzer.
- AAP
