Match Details
Match Date	24th Aug, 2012
Opponent	Canberra
Result	Loss 6-34
Coach	Des Hasler
Captain	Frank Pritchard
Venue	Canberra (Stadium)
Crowd	13,158
Referee	Matt Cecchin Chris James

The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs' 12 match winning streak has come to an end, falling 34-6 to the Canberra Raiders at Canberra Stadium.

The Raiders started fast to lead 24-6 at the break, and from there on defended their line stoutly in the second half despite some very promising attack by the Bulldogs.

The Raiders started off with a mountain of possession, including five consecutive sets on the Bulldogs line. They eventually converted that into points when Sandor Earl scored in the corner off a perfectly weighted Josh McCrone grubber, setting up a 6-0 lead after just seven minutes.

It was 12-0 six minutes later as the Raiders continued to dominate possession and field position on the back of consecutive penalties. Reece Robinson was the scorer this time after Josh Dugan was put into space by a Joel Thompson offload, before drawing Ben Barba and putting the winger with a cut-out pass.

Shell-shocked, the Bulldogs were going to have to build their momentum, but Barba was thrown into touch 10m out from their own line to give the Raiders an opportunity. Dugan dropped the ball three tackles later however, releasing the pressure.

On the back of the let-off, the Bulldogs started to find their groove and made metres up field and down the fringes of the ruck. After the Raiders made a mistake 25m out from their own line Kris Keating scored off a perfectly executed scrum play as Joel Romelo picked up the ball at lock and put Barba into space on his inside, and Keating backed up for the try next to the posts. Krisnan Inu made no mistake to narrow the gap to 12-6 after 26 minutes.

But the Raiders would hit straight back after Jonathan Wright was thrown into touch after the kick-off, Earl struck again in a carbon copy, the kick this time supplied by Sam Williams for an 18-6 score line after 29 minutes.

Earl looked to have a hat-trick just before half time, only to be denied in the 37th minute by the video referee, but Mark Nicholls cleaned up a dropped bomb to stretch the lead to 24-6 at the break.

The Bulldogs needed to get the first points in the second half to get back into the game, but an error by Sam Perrett gave the Raiders the field position and they converted again with Earl grabbing his hat-trick off Williams cross-field kick, pushing the lead to 28-6.

Jarrod Croker kicked a penalty goal in the 49th minute to push the lead to 30-6 after Sam Kasiano was penalised for a late hit on Josh McCrone, but it turned the Bulldogs into gear as they started to put on the second phase play.

Despite having more of the possession for the remainder of the game, the Bulldogs couldn't get over the line as some desperate Raiders defence kept them at bay on a number of occasions. They looked very dangerous for a long period of the second half, and both Dale Finucane and Perrett went close, only for last-ditch efforts by Raiders defenders to prevent them from scoring.

The Raiders put a stamp on the victory in the 73rd minute, with Reece Robinson scoring the corner off a great pass by McCrone to extend their lead to 34-6.

Source: AAP

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