Raiders pull off stunning fight-back win to edge out Canterbury Bulldogs
Blake Austin helped Canberra stage the most remarkable comeback of the NRL season to keep its faint finals hopes alive with a 32-28 victory over Canterbury.
Already six points out of the finals, the Raiders' season appeared over when they trailed 28-14 with six minutes to play before they scored three late tries at Belmore Oval on Saturday night.
Dropped back to the bench this week, Austin came onto the field with 14 minutes to play and kickstarted the comeback in the 75th minute when he stepped through from close to the line to score.
External Link: Bulldogs Raiders summary
Joseph Tapine then went over with two minutes to play, before Austin broke downfield in the final set allowing for centre Joseph Leilua to cross.
Leilua earlier appeared as if he was going to be the villain, after a knock-on close to the line, with scores locked at 14-14 and 25 minutes to play, swung the game in favour of the Bulldogs.
He was then penalised for backchat following the error and the Bulldogs scored to take the lead through forward Rhyse Martin on the following set.
Martin scored another moments later to complete a second-half hat trick, finishing the game with 24 points as the hosts fell desperately short of their first back-to-back wins of the season.
The win came at a cost for Canberra though, who lost Shannon Boyd (leg) and Brad Abbey (concussion) to injuries, while Tapine faces a minimum two-match ban if he is charged for a dangerous throw on Michael Lichaa.
External Link: Bulldogs Raiders chalkboard
Centre Jarrod Croker had appeared to produce a lone captain's knock before Austin's late heroics, scoring once in the first half and setting up two other tries.
After Canberra trailed 6-0 and had just 39 per cent of the ball in the opening 20 minutes, Croker got the Raiders on the board when he broke down the left edge and put Sam Williams over.
Croker did it himself when he scored their second off a Aidan Sezer cut-out ball, before his effort to put Cotric over in the 55th minute drew the Raiders level, but the game looked lost before Austin made his mark.
External Link: Bulldogs Raiders stats
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