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Rugby League > Bulldogs put bite on Raiders
June 29, 2010

A six-game losing streak is finally over for the Bulldogs after they put the bite on the Raiders 18-10 in Canberra on Monday night.

Canterbury arrived in the national capital facing the daunting task of winning eight of their final 11 games just to scrape into the NRL finals.

In a remarkable turnaround, the Bulldogs ran out at Canberra Stadium with a 3-10 win-loss record - the reverse of what they were at the same time last season.

And their difficult 2010 finals task was made even tougher when they were met with freezing conditions.

But the Bulldogs came out fired up in the cold - which plunged to a frosty two degrees - to eventually run out three tries to two winners.

Canterbury did not look like the error-riddled team that had fallen eight points outside the top eight when they raced to an 18-0 lead after as many minutes.

Centre Josh Morris opened the scoring for the visitors in the fifth minute.

Then 10 minutes later, rising star Ben Barba lived up to his growing hype when the pivot cut through Canberra's Daniel Vidot and the returning Josh Dugan in a 60m effort to score and help the Bulldogs take a 12-0 lead.

The Raiders were officially shellshocked when Dogs fullback Luke Patten crossed in the 18th minute after great lead-up work by hooker Michael Ennis who appeared to be in everything.

But the Raiders soon regained their composure.

First winger Joel Monaghan - dumped from the NSW Origin III side announced on Monday night - latched onto a clever cut-out pass from five-eighth Terry Campese to score in the 24th minute.

Then centre Joel Thompson cut through some soft defence to crash over just before halftime to get the home side back into the match.


The Bulldogs' much malinged defence then held strong in a score-less second half.

But Bulldogs coach Kevin Moore still had some worries despite the win.

Winger Steve Turner dislocated his elbow, while halfback Brett Kimmorley is a concern after being on the receiving end of a late hit from Raiders prop David Shillington.

Raiders fullback Dugan made a return from a knee injury that had sidelined him for the past two matches in a last ditch effort to impress NSW selectors.

But he clearly left his run too late with the youngster missing out on Blues selection for July 7's Origin III.
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