Fiji Bati winger Mikaele Ravalawa scored a hat trick of tries for his Saint George Illawarra Dragons but went down 36-26 to a powerful Canberra Raiders in Round 19 of NRL on Friday.
The Raiders were quick to go on the scoreboard with two back-to-back tries from Jordan Rapana and Joseph Tapine while Jarrod Crocker converted both for a 12-nil lead.
Matthew Timoko, who suffered a knee scare before half-time, got the Raiders’ third try while Crocker booted the conversion again.
Ravalawa got the Dragons in the game as he went over from close range after Amone fell inches short a play before and Zac Lomax converted.
A few minutes later, the Dragons were denied a try to Ravalawa due to a Talatau Amone forward pass.
The Raiders stayed reluctant and furthered their lead through a try from Matt Frawley and Crocker converted for an impressive 24-6 lead at the break.
The Dragons regrouped and made a strong comeback in the second stanza as fly-half Lomax crossed for his first try in the match but failed to convert.
The Raiders responded immediately with Timoko bagging his second and Crocker booted before Lomax got in action again in the 57th minute when he sent Ravalawa over for his double after a late offload from Jack de Belin created an overlap out wide.
Ravalawa scored his hat-trick having the Dragons believing late before Sebastian Kris’s try through clumsy Red V defence was enough to get the Raiders the win.
