{"id":550785,"date":"2026-03-19T15:14:38","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T15:14:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/550785\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T15:14:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T15:14:38","slug":"bulldogs-show-just-enough-bite-in-gutsy-canberra-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/550785\/","title":{"rendered":"Bulldogs show just enough bite in gutsy Canberra win"},"content":{"rendered":"

Canterbury’s week in the headlines has ended on a high, beating Canberra 14-10 in wet and wild conditions at GIO Stadium.<\/p>\n

The Bulldogs’ bye week was dominated by reports that centre Bronson Xerri was unhappy and could soon seek a release after being dropped for Thursday night’s clash.<\/p>\n

But Canterbury shook off their off-field woes with Stephen Crichton’s two penalty goals proving the difference as the visitors claimed their second consecutive win to start the season, something last achieved in 2012.<\/p>\n

With rain lashing down in the nation’s capital, the Dogs weathered the Raiders’ fast start before the contest transformed into a grind as Canberra struggled to break through Canterbury’s typically rigid defence.<\/p>\n

Connor Tracey scored a try for the Bulldogs agaist the Raiders.\u00a0Mark Nolan\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

But after Jacob Preston scored in the 71st minute, Raiders winger Savelio Tamale set up a thrilling finish by crossing moments later.<\/p>\n

Bulldogs fullback Connor Tracey (188 metres) provided the other try for the visitors, while Crichton (142m) was also typically busy.<\/p>\n

Xerri’s replacement, Enari Tuala, was relatively quiet in his first start of the year, running for 77 metres and making 20 tackles.<\/p>\n

Editor’s Picks<\/a><\/p>\n

The Raiders couldn’t cap off Ricky Stuart’s 300th match as coach with a win, although Tamale was a shining light, scoring twice, running for 239 metres, and making seven tackle busts.<\/p>\n

Second-rower Noah Martin impressed again with a game-high 40 tackles.<\/p>\n

Canberra’s hopes of retaining the minor premiership are already in doubt after a disappointing 40-6 loss to the Warriors in Auckland last Friday.<\/p>\n

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It took under four minutes for the Raiders to draw first blood when some crafty passes found Tamale open on the left edge, and he stormed over.<\/p>\n

Canterbury hit back, dragging Tamale out of play before they moved swiftly downfield and Tracey crossed.<\/p>\n

Things could have got worse for Canberra when Josh Papali’i was sent to the bin for a high tackle, but the Dogs only grabbed two points in the period.<\/p>\n

As the rain intensified, the contest turned cagey as both teams coughed up errors and struggled to find any momentum.<\/p>\n

The Raiders began to work themselves into the second half and thought they had been rewarded for their efforts when Hudson Young crashed over, but he dropped the ball.<\/p>\n

With less than 10 minutes remaining, Tracey tore through Canberra’s middle, and moments later the ball found a barnstorming Preston who wrestled over the line.<\/p>\n

The hosts responded immediately when Young received an offload from Sebastian Kris before finding Tamale, but Canterbury stood strong to complete the victory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canterbury’s week in the headlines has ended on a high, beating Canberra 14-10 in wet and wild conditions…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":550786,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-550785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/550786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}