Canberra Raiders beat Cronulla Sharks with last-gasp Sebastian Kris try

That was a brutal game with a spectacular finish.

Credit to the Raiders for sticking it out and earning these celebrations:

I’ll catch you folks tomorrow night!

I think we’re lucky, or unlucky depending on your point of view, that the Raiders won that game. I reckon Ricky Stuart would’ve had some thoughts about that one if things hadn’t gone their way, but the effort from his team to pull out the win might just cool his jets.

“I would’ve gave them a real compliment if we hadn’t won. The way they fought and fought and hung in there. We had every reason to lose it. There’s a lot of fight in them.

“You seen what this club is about. In the last two minutes, you seen what this club is built on.”

Stuart is still unhappy with the way the Raiders were refereed.

“This team is not that ill-disciplined. As a coach I don’t go out and coach grubby tactics.

“The penalty count was 7-2. If we’re giving away penalties, great. But you can’t tell me other teams aren’t giving away penalties too.”

Stuart says he still doesn’t have a clear idea of the rules around sin-bins for high tackles after that game.

Stuart says this is the best start to a season he’s ever seen from Hudson Young, who he’s tapped as a potential successor to Joe Tapine as captain.

The 79th minute of a game where the team had a player sin-binned.

They were 55 metres from the tryline, down by two points on the last tackle.

Seven passes, a kick and just perfect off-the-cuff execution.

Coach Craig Fitzgibbon says it was a great game and both teams were out of gas, but the Raiders just found a way to win.

“Our execution’s a bit off,” Fitzgibbon says.

That was most evident when the Raiders were down to 12 men for 10 minutes in the second half and the Sharks only managed to score a penalty goal in that time.

“We just didn’t ask enough questions in that period and they got a resolve in that period.”

Fitzgibbon and captain Cameron McInnes praise the effort but admit things aren’t clicking right now in attack.

McInnes was on the receiving end of the high shot that sent Hudson Young to the sin-bin and says the ‘crackdown’ is not complicated: contact with the head puts you at risk of being dismissed.

“It’s pretty clear. Just gotta get our tackle heights right,” he says.

“Absolutely miraculous” is how former Canberra halfback Sam Williams describes that on ABC Sport. And I can’t disagree.

What a phenomenal effort from the Raiders, weathering the sin-bin of Hudson Young and still coming away with the victory. It was thanks in no small part to Young, who made the line break down the left in the lead-up to the game-winner.

Honestly, I’m still in shock from that try.

Sebastian Kris is the left centre by the way, and popped up on the right to score that game-winning try.

OH. MY. WORD!! The Raiders might have just scored the try of the year to win them the game!

The Raiders run it on the last from beyond halfway, Hudson Young bursts through on the left, he gets the offload away, the ball comes to Xavier Savage, who skips across the field and grubbers through to the back field. Kaeo Weekes gets the ball off a filthy bounce and flick passes to Simi Sasagi, who offloads in to Sebastian Kris to score what should be the game-winner.

The errors continue to mount as Jamal Fogarty takes on the line and drops the ball late in the tackle. Sharks attacking from 40 metres out.

Samuel Stonestreet is called for a knock-on off Jamal Fogarty’s kick, but Cameron McInnes challenges. And wins.

Once again avoiding a full set right on their tryline. Skippers on point tonight.

Simi Sasagi is penalised for a high tackle on Billy Burns and another gift for Cronulla.

Looked dramatic, but I’m not sure it was shoulder to head. Regardless, the Sharks kick for touch and attack from 20 metres out.

Just two points conceded in those 10 minutes  Great work from the Raiders, but they look exhausted.

Can they find the energy to break the Sharks, or will the fatigue from that 10-minute period tell in the final moments of this match?

The bomb goes up and Ronald Mulitalo challenges Kaeo Weekes. The ball goes back and the Raiders regather, but Todd Smith says Weekes knocked on.

But Joe Tapine wisely challenges and the bunker says Mulitalo knocked on first.

Young lurks on the sideline as the Raiders avoid a defensive set right on their line.

We’re not too far away from Hudson Young returning as the Sharks tap back a kick and try to spin it right on some second-phase play, but Briton Nikora launches a cut-out pass that flies forward.

Maybe that penalty goal straight after Young’s binning was the best thing to happen to Canberra.

As if the Young sin-bin wasn’t enough, Joe Tapine, trying to make a statement, catches McInnes high and Nicho Hynes kicks the penalty goal.

“That’s soft, mate,” Tapine appears to say on the field, and ex-Raiders skipper Alan Tongue agrees in the ABC Sport commentary box.

Sharks lead 20-18.

Meanwhile, Tapine is trying to run off a left ankle injury.

The Raiders were challenging a knock-on call, but in the meantime, the bunker has gone back to review a shot from Hudson Young on Cameron McInnes and he’s off for 10 minutes.

Young definitely collected McInnes with a shoulder straight to the jaw of McInnes. No mitigation

“We are going to see a lot of people in the bin this weekend. There wasn’t a lot in that,” former Raiders halfback Sam Williams says on the sideline for ABC Sport.

A forced dropout and two six-again calls go against them, but the Raiders will not be broken as Ethan Strange forces the error from a jinking Will Kennedy as he steps Seb Kris and pokes his nose through.

Great effort from Strange.

The Raiders centre is a having a great contest with opposite number Jesse Ramien. He makes great contact that would bring anyone else down, but Kris just keeps the legs pumping for an extra five or seven metres.

The Sharks keep them out, but Kris has started this season so well and continues that form tonight.

At the other end, Kaeo Weekes is having a ‘mare under the high ball. Meanwhile, Will Kennedy has a much tougher prospect fielding Jamal Fogarty’s cloud-botherers and he’s passed another test with flying colours.

We’re into the final 40 in Canberra.

Ricky Stuart will be fuming with that effort, because all three times the Raiders hit the front, they gifted it back with silly errors.

The first was a penalty, the second a poor handling error deep in their own half, and then a foolish offside penalty to undo a full set of staunch defence.

And credit to the Sharks for making the Raiders pay every time.

So, instead of 18-0, 18-6 or 18-12, it’s all tied up at 18-18 at the break.