Raiders Defeat Dragons in Epic

by **Lemon** Sun Aug 16, 2009 2:50 pm

FEARLESS Raiders lock Josh Miller inspired Canberra to one of its best wins in recent memory last night.
The Raiders posted a bruising 24-12 come-from-behind victory over the top-placed St George-Illawarra Dragons at Canberra Stadium in front of their biggest home crowd in three years.

Miller, described by teammates as one of the fiercest competitors in rugby league, was in the thick of a game that included three sin-binnings, three fights, a player knocked unconscious and a player placed on report.

The 100kg cannonball charged out of the defensive line to knock former teammate Michael Weyman unconscious in a first half head clash, before refusing to back down to Weyman's NSW State of Origin teammate Justin Poore during two second-half altercations.

Miller's fierce physical presence rubbed off on his teammates, who fought back from a 12-point deficit to record the win.

The Raiders scored three tries in seven frantic minutes during the second half, before five-eighth Terry Campese booted three penalty goals to seal the game.

Raiders captain Alan Tongue described it as one of the best wins he had been involved in and praised Miller's contribution to the cause.

''He just plays at 100 miles an hour, he's inspirational,'' Tongue said.

''Mick Weyman is one of the biggest fellas in the game and to take him out of it was a big play for us.

''That just fired everyone up and really made the game.''

The Raiders were trailing 4-0 when Miller flattened Weyman, just two minutes after Dragons back-rower Dean Young had been sin-binned for punching Raiders five-eighth Terry Campese.

While the hit fired the Raiders up they were unable to breach the Dragons' line in the first half, despite having four-consecutive sets on the visitors' line at one stage.

Campese was sin-binned nine minutes from halftime for backchat and Dragons' five-eighth Jamie Soward's ensuing penalty goal made it 6-0 at the break.

When Dragons fullback Darius Boyd dashed 80m to score shortly after the break the visitors appeared to be in control