Canberra have locked in a first NRLW finals appearance with an upset 24-10 win over Wests Tigers at Leichhardt Oval.
Coming into the game on Friday night knowing a win would guarantee a coveted top-six finish, the Raiders played like it was the finals a week early, scoring a convincing four tries to two victory.
It was Canberra’s fourth consecutive win over Wests Tigers, who themselves had already locked in a maiden NRLW finals berth heading into the last two rounds.
It took 20 minutes for either side to register any points on Friday and it was worth the wait.
Raiders’ winger Mackenzie Wiki burst into the backfield and dashed 30 metres before backing up on the next play with another 30m tackle-busting run to score out wide in the 20th minute.
It didn’t take as long for the Raiders to post a second, with centre Leianne Tufuga, in her 50th NRLW game, dancing her way through the defensive line to touch down six minutes later and give them a 10-0 lead at the break.
Five minutes into the second half, Wests Tigers started to mount a comeback, with Shenai Lendill returning from injury via the bench to cross for her first try of the season.
The fightback was short lived, though, and the Raiders stretched the lead to 12 after Isabella Waterman planted the ball down out wide and Zahara Temara booted her second sideline conversion of the match to go past 200 NRLW points for the club.
Salma Nour looked to have put the Tigers back in it, powering over from dummy half with nine minutes to go, but referee Kasey Badger sent it up as a try, and it was correctly overruled by Peter Gough in the bunker.
Nour was back at it three minutes later to bring the Tigers within six, but Jordyn Preston produced the perfect show-and-go to slice the through the Wests Tigers defence and seal the victory for Canberra.
Both teams will now wait for results from Sunday’s Broncos clash with the Warriors and Newcastle’s match against the high-flying Titans to see who their finals opponents will be, with a rematch of tonight’s game a possibility.
Discipline will be an area of focus for Canberra and Wests Tigers ahead of finals, with Badger blowing 21 penalties across the 70 minutes of action on Friday night, including five players placed on report.
