Canberra 23-18 North Queensland

Correspondent

Canberra have broken their NRL duck this season with a 23-18 victory over North Queensland.

The Raiders opened up a useful 14-0 lead thanks to tries from Nigel Plum, Jarrod Croker and Adrian Purtell.

A lucky try to Travis Burns reduced the Canberra lead but a piece of inspiration from halfback Marc Herbert was enough to create and opening for Joe Picker to cross for the score.

North Queensland added a try through John Williams and Ben Farrar¹s late score gave them a chance to steal the points, but in reality they did not deserve the win.

Terry Campese kicked a field goal with just one minute remaining to round off the scoring.

Raiders
Tries: Nigel Plum, Jarrod Croker, Adrian Purtell, Joe Picker
Field Goals: Terry Campese 1
Goals: Terry Campese 3
Cowboys
Tries: Travis Burns, John Williams, Ben Farrar
Goals: Johnathan Thurston (3/3)

NRL Canberra