SPORT 59
SUNDAY AUGUST 28 2016
Raiders
continue
march to
top two
Late field
goal gives
victory to
Panthers
TITANS
PANTHERS
14
15
PENRITH
Tries: W Blake M Moylan
Goals: N Cleary 3
Field goals: M Moylan
GOLD COAST
Tries: G Bird L Pulu
Goals: T Roberts 3
Refs: Chris Sutton, Grant Atkins
Crowd: 18,288 at Cbus Super Stadium
THE Titans’ finals fairytale hit
a heartbreaking hurdle last
night with Penrith pinching a
stunning 15-14 victory on the
Gold Coast.
The Panthers burst out to a
14-0 lead with a powerful first
half, only for the gutsy Titans
to claw their way back in a
thrilling finish.
It took a 30m field goal from
Panthers ace Matt Moylan to
secure Penrith a finals berth
and leave the Gold Coast with
a daunting trip to Townsville to
earn a shot at the play-offs.
The Titans must beat last
year’s
premiers,
North
Queensland, next Saturday to
sew up their first finals appearance since 2010.
If the Gold Coast lose to the
Cowboys they could still qualify in the top eight, however
they will need other results to
fall their way.
The Titans looked to have
blown their opportunity when
the Panthers came out of the
blocks firing.
The Titans just could not
match the size and speed of the
Panthers, who had the Gold
Coast constantly on the back
foot as they opened up a 14-0
half-time lead.
But as they have done all
year, the Titans fought back
and gave themselves every opportunity of victory, only to
suffer the most heartbreaking
of defeats.
Tyrone Roberts kicked a
penalty in the 76th minute to
level scores, however the Titans let Tyrone Peachey sneak
through and Moylan calmly
slotted the one-pointer to
snatch victory.
JAMES MacSMITH
SEA EAGLES
RAIDERS
30
44
CANBERRA
Tries: J Rapana 3 J Leilua 2 E Lee P
Vaughan J Wighton
Goals: J Croker 6
MANLY
Tries: T Trbojevic 3 D Cherry-Evans J
Trbojevic F Winterstein
Goals: M Wright 3
Refs: Ben Cummins, Tim Roby
Crowd: 11,137 at Brookvale Oval
Canberra’s Jordan Rapana turns on the speed for a runaway try against Manly
Picture: STEPHEN COOPER
JOEY Leilua and Jordan Rapana have kept Canberra in
the hunt for a top-two NRL finals spot by leading a Blake
Austin-less Raiders to a 44-30
win over Manly.
Canberra’s Aidan Sezer left
the field late with a shoulder
injury yesterday afternoon as
the Raiders survived a late Sea
Eagles comeback at Brookvale
Oval.
Canberra led 18-10 at the
break thanks to two tries by
Rapana, then two four-pointers to Leilua soon after half
time put the visitors well on
track for their ninth straight
win.
Rapana scored three tries
overall, as did Manly’s Tom
Trbojevic. Sam Williams filled
in capably for Austin - who is
out indefinitely due to a hand
injury - alongside Sezer in the
Raiders’ halves in the eighttries-to-six win. Losing Sezer
would be another significant
blow for the Raiders. Melbourne have already cemented
a top-two spot, and whether
Leading NRL coach lets slip that golden point facing review
THE NRL’s
controversial
golden-point system is set to
be reviewed at the end of the
season, according to a member
of the competition committee.
In the same week NRL boss
Todd Greenberg laughed off
claims of an extra-time overhaul, Sydney Roosters coach
Trent Robinson admitted rival
coaches were keen to put it
back on the post-season agenda. Robinson is one of two
coaches, including South Sydney counterpart Michael Maguire, appointed last summer
to the 11-person committee.
He admitted the issue was
raised in a coaches’ meeting in
May during the Tasman Test.
“We had our views on that
and I’d say it might be discussed again,” Robinson said.
“We weren’t going to make
changes at that point, but there
will be discussions at some
point in the off-season or the
pre-season.”
Canterbury coach Des Hasler and Manly rival Trent Bar-
rett both called for an end to
golden point after a controversial finish to a game earlier this
month between the two teams.
Most of the criticism over
the system centres on a lack of
penalties being blown by referees despite obvious rules being
broken in extra time.
Greenberg earlier this week
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Canberra or Cronulla will join
them in hosting a home qualifying final in the first week of
the playoffs will likely be decided in next week’s matches.
Wests Tigers host Canberra
at Leichhardt, while Cronulla
travel to Melbourne.
Soft defence from Manly allowed Paul Vaughan score the
game’s first try in the 10th minute. Rapana followed that up
eight minutes later for a 12-0
lead.
The Trbojevic brothers then
combined to get Manly back in
the game. Jake Trbojevic
scored after Jack Wighton
spilled a Matt Wright bomb.
Tom Trbojevic then crossed
out wide to peg the Raiders’
lead to just two points.
Rapana’s second try two
minutes before the break gave
the Raiders a 18-10 lead at the
break.
Rapana’s third try with a
minute to go sealed the win,
but only after second-half tries
to Tom Trbojevic (two), Daly
Cherry-Evans and Frank Winterstein gave Manly a hope of
an upset win.
08 8944 9999
WITH
defended golden point, saying
the system had brought an
extra level of excitement to the
game and added to the spectacle. He was also quick to
point out how there had been a
record 15 golden-point games
in 2016, but said he would also
listen to opinions offered by
the coaches.