The Raiders Break The Bulldogs Hearts

A Blake Austin led masterclass broke the Canterbury Bulldogs hearts on Saturday night, as the Canberra Raiders scored three tries in the final six minutes to steal an almost impossible victory.

Back rower Rhys Martin's ridiculous 24 point night was not enough, as his three tries and six goals were undone by Austin's late brilliance as Joey Leilua scored right on full time in front of the Canterbury crowd.

It wasn't all good news for the Raiders, who had Brad Abbey stretchered off with a concussion, Shannon Boyd failing to finish the game due to a calf problem, and Joe Tapine facing suspension for a dangerous throw.

Canterbury dominated the early proceedings, but couldn't convert that dominance into scoreboard control and were eventually trailing at the halftime break.

Kerrod Holland had a very tough night, as the Bulldogs' centre was targeted one-on-one time and again, as the Raiders found their way into tries three times from those situations.

Martin would score two quick tries in succession to give the Bulldogs a 26-14 lead, before he then converted a penalty to make it 28-14 and what the Dogs assumed was an unassailable 14 point lead with six minutes to play.

But Austin's cameo would end up being key, as he found his way over to trim the lead to 8. Joe Tapine then scored to set up a huge last two minutes of play as Austin created an opening with a pivotal line break.

Canterbury's defence was scattered after the line break and couldn't recover, as Leilua crashed over the top of the Morris twins to seal and steal a pivotal and potentially season-defining win for Canberra.

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