KEY POINTS:
The Junior Raiders gave their Warriors counterparts a lesson in playing committed football for 80 minutes in appalling conditions in the curtainraiser at Mt Smart Stadium yesterday and deservedly ran out 30-24 winners.
The Raiders have lost just once this season and are second only to unbeaten Parramatta in a tight Toyota Cup competition, with six drawn matches, just North Queensland stumbling without a win so far.
With key players missing through injury yesterday and boom prop Russell Packer elevated to the NRL, the Warriors struggled for cohesion on attack and to maintain a consistent line in defence.
Canberra opened the scoring through wing Steve Naughton, then the Warriors replied through prop Leeson Ah Mau and Ben Matulino, who both crashed through traffic close to the line. But muscle alone wasn't enough and they conceded four more tries to slicker attack and were 30-12 down and into the last quarter before Daniel O'Regan bustled over.
There were just two minutes left when Ah Mau got his second to close the gap to six, too late.
* Warriors 24: Leeson Ah Mau 2, Ben Matulino, Daniel O'Regan tries; Howie Matthews 4 goals.
Raiders 30: Steve Naughton, Michael Picker, Andrew Edwards, Jarrad Kennedy, Josh Dugan, Brock Dunn, tries; Dugan 3 goals.
Halftime: 22-12.
