http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0,8659,18122978-23214,00.html
Raiders curb Warriors comeback
From correspondents in Canberra
February 12, 2006
Warriors 16 Raiders 28
THE Canberra Raiders shook off a second-half comeback by the New Zealand Warriors in a wet pre-season NRL match in Auckland today.
The Raiders had a 22-0 lead early in the second half but three successive tries by the Warriors made it a contest before the visitors closed out the game of four 20-minute quarters.
A 30-metre grubber by Canberra rookie William Zillman gave David Milne the chance to claim the ball just inside the corner of the dead ball line had given the Raiders an apparently impregnable lead.
But the Warriors, lacklustre in the first half, came steaming back into the game.
Winger Todd Byrne scored from a relentless Warriors thrust which spanned the breadth of the field and fullback Tony Martin put one down in the corner soon after.
Then interchange player Cooper Vuna broke free for a 50-metre run in which he shook off three defenders and rolled over the line to bring up a 22-16 scoreline at three-quarter time.
Canberra regained the initiative after the short break when Adrian Purtell scored on the end of a long, questionable pass from the corner.
The Raiders had led 18-0 at half-time after a sluggish start.
The Warriors dominated much of the first quarter but failed to score through spilled balls and missed opportunities.
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The Raiders began to find their feet and in the 18th minute a Marshall Chalk break on the wing found Canberra with the numbers to score through Lincoln Withers.
As heavy rain fell, the Raiders fullback put the visitors further ahead soon after the break when he threaded his way through the Warriors' defence to make it 12-0.
Canberra kept the ball in the Warriors' half for much of the quarter and inevitably scored again when Ryan Hinchcliffe barged his way across the line.
New Zealand Warriors 16 (T Byrne T Martin C Vuna tries T Martin 2 goals)
Canberra Raiders 28 (L Withers C Schifcofske R Hinchcliffe D Milne A Purtell tries, C Schifcofske 4 goals) in an NRL trial match at North Harbour Stadium.
AAP