Tigers hand Raiders seventh straight loss - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Tigers hand Raiders seventh straight loss

By Matt Sadler 01/05/2011 06:50:36 PM Comments (0)

Canberra's NRL season is on life support after they crashed to their seventh consecutive loss in a 49-12 demolition by a rampant Wests Tigers at Canberra Stadium.

Benji Marshall spearheaded Wests Tigers' eight-try onslaught against increasingly flimsy defence on Sunday as their team celebrated coach Tim Sheens' decision to knock back a big offer from Penrith and stay with the club.

For the Raiders the situation is so desperate that beleaguered coach David Furner revealed he may not travel to the Gold Coast to take up his role as assistant to Kangaroos coach Tim Sheens in Friday night's Test against New Zealand.

"As a coach my importance is with this club and with these players," Furner said. "Great honour to have an opportunity, but (the priority) is this club."

Captain Alan Tongue acknowledged the Raiders had reached one of their lowest ebbs but he insisted their finals hopes weren't over despite being only one game short of the club's record losing streak set way back in 1985-86.

"The season's not lost. Don't worry about that," Tongue said.

"We're going to have to show some character to get out of this."

The Tigers balanced their season record at 4 wins and 4 losses to be inside the top eight.

After Raiders fullback Josh Dugan opened the scoring in the tenth minute, the Tigers replied with four tries before half-time, a double from Wade McKinnon and one each from Marshall and Matt Utai.

Furner conceded that his team was not able to recover from the damage inflicted in the first half which saw them 24-6 down.

The kicking game of Marshall and halfback Robert Lui consistently troubled the home side who were repeatedly caught out of position and also let themselves down with poor ball control.

When Dugan scored his second try, the first of the second half, there were brief hopes for a home team revival.

But the Tigers snuffed those out with a try to Liam Fulton and three more in the last 10 minutes to Chris Heighington, Andrew Fifita and Simon Dwyer.

Furner said it was more a case of the Tigers being given too much ball than his own players giving up.

"That was way too much possession for the Wests Tigers. You give us that much possession and that's what'll happen to an opposition team," Fulton said.

Tigers captain Robbie Farah said it was an important win coming after losses to the Titans and the Broncos.

"I thought the young guys really stepped up. I though Robert Lui's kicking game, especially in that first half, really won us that battle in the middle," said Farah.

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