Raiders' explosive start kills off hapless Bunnies

Nick Markham | rugbyleaguelive.com | 19/05/08 | 0

AUDIO - Jason Taylor: 'Just not good enough'

AUDIO - Neil Henry: 'Our best performance'

An electrifying opening forty minutes set the platform for an embarrassingly easy 38-10 win for the Raiders at Canberra Stadium tonight, the home side totally outclassing a hapless South Sydney side that lacked commitment and intensity for the duration of the contest.

The Raiders have a habit of starting their home matches at one-hundred miles an hour, and this game was no exception. Joel Monaghan touched down in just the second minute off a Todd Carney kick, and from that point, the home side were never headed.

The Rabbitohs briefly looked like making a contest of it when they hit back in the 12th minute through centre Beau Champion, but it was what happened next that showed the bunnies true colours.

A farcical knock-on from the kickoff by Fetuli Talanoa put the Rabbitohs under the blowtorch, and while they held out on this occasion, it was to prove the exception, not the rule..

The visitors conceded a very soft try in the 21st minute when Glen Turner forced his way over from dummy half, and when Carney slotted the extras from adjacent to the posts, the Raiders were 12-4 in front after 22 minutes.

The Green Machine were making cheap metres simply by rolling through the middle, and went further ahead on the half hour, going eighty metres to score through Trevor Thurling, with Carney's conversion stretching the lead out to 18-4.

The Raiders, oozing with confidence, went the length of the field in the set of six following the restart,  Terry Campese streaking away for an embarrassingly easy four-pointer after regathering an Alan Tongue chip-kick, rounding out a totally dominant first half performance, the home side with a 24-4 lead.

The start of the second half was almost a mirror image of the first, the Raiders relentlessly pursued another try and got it through Joel Monaghan in the 47th minute, the flame-haired centre standing up Luke pointlessly before crashing over for his second of the night to make it 28-8.

A perfectly weighted Carney grubber resulted in another Raiders try through Adrian Purtell, giving the home side a 32-4 advantage with more than a quarter of the game remaining.

The Rabbitohs continued to hand the ball back to the Green Machine, and the Raiders continued to pile on the points, Bronx Goodwin crossed for the Raiders seventh try, Carney's conversion taking the lead out to a whopping 34 points with 19 minutes remaining.

Souths collected a consolation try in the final seconds through Dean Widders to make it 38 to 10, but it was a consolation in every sense of the word as the Rabbitohs finished totally outgunned.

CANBERRA 38 (J Monaghan 2 G Turner T Thurling T Campese A Purtell B Goodwin tries T Carney 5 goals) bt SOUTH SYDNEY 10 (B Champion D Widders tries I Luke goal) at Canberra Stadium. Referee: G Badger. Crowd: 11,115.