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The Canberra Raiders are left stunned by the Titans' comeback win in Canberra on Saturday.

The Titans came from nowhere to score three late tries and snatch victory over the Raiders, and leap to the top of the table. Here are the five key points from the match.

 


Henry proud of gutsy performance

The Titans looked dead and buried with 15 minutes remaining but somehow pulled three late tries out of the bag to snatch a late victory.

While no player particularly stood out for them, their coach Neil Henry praised the attitude of the whole team after the game.

"We talked about it at half-time – 'if we eliminate some errors and hang in we can come home okay'," Henry said.

"Look that's a gutsy second half. We had a few penalties there; we lost possession a couple of times. 

"We had some resilient goal-line defence and that's a great win for the boys."

 

Raiders can't keep giving away early leads

For the third time this year the Raiders have given up a big lead to let their opposition back into the game, but for the first time they've been overtaken. 

"We're getting away to good leads and can't go on with it, it's been a similar story all year," Canberra coach Ricky Stuart said. 

"Last three weeks have been a different result but this one went against us.

"We had the opportunity to win that one in first half and the top teams do."

Captain Jarrod Croker echoed his coach's sentiments, and was disappointed in the way his side dawdled into the final minutes.

"We played like that for three weeks and got away with it," Croker said. 

"Tonight we didn't." 

And speaking of giving away leads, Raiders hard man Frank-Paul Nuuausala was undoubtedly the worst perpetrator with a silly late penalty.

Stuart wouldn't be drawn too much into the incident, aside from mentioning that he had already addressed the issue in the sheds after the match.

Contentious try decision all about the on-field call

John Olive's 78th-minute four-pointer was the try that decided the game and despite Canberra fans crying foul about the result going against them, both coaches accepted that the process was correctly followed.

With cameras unable to show a result either way, the Bunker backed the on-field call of try which was provided by a touch judge.

"You've got to have enough evidence to overturn the on-field decision," Henry said. 

"John Olive is adamant he got it down. But you're right if he said no try it would have been difficult to overturn."

Meanwhile Stuart backed the process of referee Henry Perenara.

"Henry Perenara is copping criticism from the crowd; he was in no position to make the call on that and I don't think he did, the call came from the touch judge," Stuart said. 

"The touch judge has seen the ball hit the ground."

 

Titans' points could be in danger due to interchange bungle

With Tyrone Roberts looking certain to be forced from the field in the second half, the Titans appeared to have contravened the interchange policy, bringing David Shillington onto the field as a replacement before Roberts remarkably played on. 

The Titans then apparently had 14 men on the field for a short amount of time.

Speaking after the match Titans coach Neil Henry said the interchange official shouldn't have handed over an interchange card considering Roberts didn't leave the field.

"The sideline official is supposed to not hand that card over until that player is off," Henry said.

"I reckon Shillo [David Shillington] was on there about five seconds."

However Henry admitted there would have to be some kind of investigation. 

"Obviously match officials will have a look at it," he said.

Meanwhile Ricky Stuart wasn't going to be drawn in to the possibility of the Titans being punished for the indiscretion.

"I saw it happening," Stuart said. "It's got nothing to do with me."

Soft tries and dropped ball haunt Canberra 

While the Raiders were shooting for top of the table on Easter Saturday, much of their form with ball in hand so far this season has been poor.

Once again they were error-prone, especially late in the game, inviting their opposition back into the game with 12 errors.

Their second-biggest flaw in the game was soft goal-line defence, which allowed three close-range tries to Titans forwards who really shouldn't have got close.

"Couple of simple errors there, that's what cost us," Stuart said of the loss.

"And a couple of soft tries as well. We've got plenty to work on.

"If you think you're going to do something in this comp you can't afford those tries."

Jarrod Croker also rued the poor handling of his team. 

"We just dropped too much ball in the second half and it came back to haunt us," he said.

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