The Canberra Raiders and the St George Illawarra Dragons put on a 13-try spectacle, one that saw the Raiders come away with a 38-34 victory.
The game had no dull moments, merely exciting ones, as four players came away with doubles.
First points went the Raiders way when Ash Quinlan lofted a pass over the top to Madison Bartlett and she had work to do, able to shrug off her opposite number to open the scoring.
The Raiders then extended their lead as Emma Barnes found a barnstorming Grace Kemp who powered over and made scoring with brute force look easy.
Not to be outdone, the Dragons were the next to score and reduce the deficit, as Teagan Berry showed her own strength to slice the line, carry a defender over and plant the ball down.
The Raiders would then score as Zahara Temara put Monalisa Soliola through a gap and she lofted a pass to Shakiah Tungai who went over untouched.
A nightmare of a bomb caught Apii Nicholls off-guard and it was Shenai Lendill who regathered off the bounce and raced away to score.
But the Dragons were not done there in the first half as Alexis Tauaneai then powered her way over, telling Kemp anything she could do, I can do better.
The game took a turn for the worse when Kerehitina Matua was sin-binned for a hip-drop tackle.
The Dragons evidently capitalised as Tauaneai once again powered over for her second try of the game.
Some hot potato football then saw the Dragons extend their lead as Kasey Reh turned the jets on to race through and score.
Once the Raiders got their lady back to make it 13 apiece again, they would score as Temara and Quinlan combined for the five-eighth to score under the posts.
Kemp then showed some monstrous strength to carry five Dragons players over the line with her to score, a remarkable effort.
The Raiders then took the lead once more as they went left and the quick hands plus an overlap saw Bartlett grab her second try.
There is little that beats a dummy and run from a forward and we saw just that from Amelia Pasikala who bamboozled them all, ran 30m and planted the ball down.
A grandstand finish then ensued with just forty seconds to go when Berry kicked for herself, remarkably regathered and raced away to score.
But that would be all she wrote as the Raiders held on for a narrow win to keep their slim finals hopes alive.
To compound the loss, the Dragons would see both Jamilee Bright and Steph Hancock forced off with lower leg injuries.
Dragons coach Jamie Soward was critical of one particular incident where one if his players was laying on the ground motionless, yet the play failed to stop and the Raiders scored off it.
“When a player is lying motionless in the play the ball and the referee calls play on? I need an explanation on that because the Raiders then scored off that play,” Soward said.
“And she’s gotta go to hospital now so every other player and so from now, every player laying motionless is a safety issue and games have been stopped for less.”
Soward does admit, however, that that one incident is not why the lost the game.
“We were not good enough defensively,” Soward continued honestly.
Raiders coach Darren Borthwick was pleased with the effort from his players but admits the inability to hold big leads has let them down previously.
“It’s been a bit of a tale in terms of how our season has been, having good leads and letting them slip,” Borthwick said.
Ricky’s Player of the Game
3. Grace Kemp (Raiders)
2. Alexis Tauaneai (Dragons)
1. Teagan Berry (Dragons)
