Veterans Jordan Rapana and Josh Papali'i stood tall as the Raiders handed Brisbane their first defeat of the season with a 20-14 triumph at Suncorp Stadium on last night.
It was clear from the outset that the Raiders were up for the fight and they scored in the fifth minute with Rapana going over in the corner.
On the half hour mark Rapana made it a double when he jumped into dummy half and carried three Broncos over the line with him to give Canberra 12-4 lead.
An offside penalty against the Broncos in the closing minutes of the half gave Jarrod Croker an easy shot at goal and the Green Machine led by 10.
The Broncos needed just three minutes in the second half to find their groove with Jordan Riki grabbing a try after Albert Hopoate made a mess of an Adam Reynolds grubber kick.
On the back of a Zac Woolford burst out of dummy half the Raiders marched down field and grabbed their third of the game when Hopoate flew high to bring down a Fogarty kick and plunge over wide out.
Croker converted from touch to make it 20-10 to Canberra.
With eight minutes to play the Broncos set up a grandstand finish when Ezra Mam delivered the final pass for Jesse Arthars to cross in the corner with a spectacular finish.
In other games, the Panthers thrashed the Sea Eagles 44-12 last night while Apisai Koroisau’s Wests Tigers will play the Eels at 8pm tomorrow.
[Source: nrl.com]
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