Joseph Tapine went from zero to hero as Canberra stored their finals marketing campaign going with a 36-24 win on the Gold Coast.
The front-rower was binned for throwing a punch at Titans hooker Aaron Sales space within the first half, however got here again to attain an excellent solo strive that ultimately clinched the win for the Raiders.
The incident got here simply earlier than half time, when Tapine reacted to what he thought had been a cannonball deal with by selecting Sales space off the ground with power and returning him to floor aggressively.
It was debatable, because the incident was not a standard punch, however definitely the extent of power was all the time going to curiosity Kasey Badger within the bunker.
The Raiders moved into ninth place on the ladder with the seven tries to 4 victory on Saturday, their fourth win from their previous 5 begins.
Nick Cotric and Sebastien Kris scored doubles for the guests because the Raiders racked up their highest rating of the season, whereas Jayden Campbell’s personal try-scoring double was mere comfort for the Titans.
Lock Adam Elliott was spectacular with 126 working metres for the Raiders however limped off early within the second half with a leg damage and didn’t return in a possible headache for Canberra coach Ricky Stuart.
Former Titan Jamal Fogarty additionally picked up a try-assist in addition to eight factors off the boot in his first match again on the Gold Coast following his low season transfer to the Raiders.
Defeat is Gold Coast’s ninth in a row and can solely improve the strain on under-fire coach Justin Holbrook because the Titans battle to keep away from a second picket spoon in 4 years.
Issues started ominously for the hosts when Matthew Timoko ran via a large gap within the Titans defence to open the scoring within the fifth minute.
However Gold Coast regrouped when Tanah Boyd’s grubber kick within the twelfth minute bounced up into the grateful arms of Brian Kelly, who crossed untouched to stage the scores.
The Titans then thought they’d snatched the lead after Beau Fermor dived on an Aaron Sales space kick just for the bunker to rule out the strive having deemed the Gold Coast backrower bobbled his grounding.
Cotric’s quickfire double pushed the Raiders to a 16-6 lead, with the winger’s first a fantastic end after a pointy catch to snare Hudson Younger’s flick-pass.
The Tapine flashpoint then arrived, with the Canberra man taking exception to a low deal with from Sales space.
For his response, he was despatched to the sin bin and the Titans made the one-man benefit depend on the stroke of halftime when Boyd scurried over from dummy-half to make sure the hosts have been down by 4 factors on the break.
Canberra restored their 10-point lead early within the second half when Younger pounced on Fogarty’s grubberkick, earlier than a second flick-pass from Younger within the 51st minute despatched Kris over after good work within the build-up by Jack Wighton.
The Titans stored themselves within the hunt when Campbell completed off a Beau Fermor line-break within the 56th minute however when Tapine took 4 Titans over the tryline to attain within the 66th minute, the premiership factors have been secure.
Kris after which Campbell added yet another every for both staff earlier than fulltime because the Raiders put together to face premiers Penrith in Canberra subsequent Saturday.
Gold Coast have a frightening journey to Melbourne to play the Storm subsequent Friday.
© AAP
