The Canberra Royals have taken down the Tuggeranong Vikings in an impressive 38-29 display this afternoon, handing the side their second home loss in two weeks despite a late surge from the home side.
Joey Henry made his presence known early by giving the referee a reason to yellow card the winger after tackling Vikings debutant Aedan Billiards early while in the air for a yellow card within the first minute of play.
While the Royals were working the ball out of their own end they would put boot to ball which turned out to be a perfect start for Vikings 10 Josiah Lealifano who came down with the Gilbert and was able to offload the ball to Junior Time Taotua who ran from 50 metres out to score, pacing his way through multiple men in blue on the way.
Striking back in the 9th minute however, Charlie Cartwright would make the most of a strong rolling maul from his side to nab a try and even the scores after Pedro Rolando converted the effort making the scoreline 7-all.
Looking break the locked scoreboard, Vikings centre Louis Bartley-Saena would point to the sticks after a penalty in the 20th minute of the match. Being granted his chance by skipper Cameron Holt, Bartley-Saena then nailed the kick for a 10-7 lead.
Taking the match back to a tied affair, Pedro Rolando would follow the Vikings example just two minutes later and punch a penalty goal through the posts in the 22nd minute, taking the score to 10-all with 18 minutes to play in the opening half.
Finding the lead for their first time in the match, The Royals finally cracked the Vikings defences as Joey Henry made up for his 10 minutes in the bin earlier in the match as the winger darted through Tuggeranong's defence for a try after a beautiful short ball from Joe Winfield.
Back in the game in the 39th minute, the Vikings would refuse to go into the break at a try-deficit as Bartley-Saena running in support would prompt Amaani Vercoe-Aoina to deliver a spectacular pass over Royals heads back to the centre who started the play.
Ending the second half however would be the Royals extending their two-point lead to five as Pedro Rolando found his second penalty goal of the afternoon taking the scores to 20-15 in favour of the visitors.
To open the second half Rolando would extend his sides lead once again through a penalty goal in the 41st minute of the match, continuing to edge ahead of the home side at a score of 23-15.
In the 45th minute Cartwright would manage to find his second try of the match for Royals as the number two threw in for a line out close to the Vikings line, then held the paint where his side would deliver the ball back to the front rower allowing him to score in the corner.
Later in the 54th minute, Royals leader Rolando would take another chance for his fourth shot at goal after a Vikings infringement. Successfully putting the effort through the sticks, the Royals moved ahead to a 16 point lead.
In the 66th minute, the Vikings defences would be broken through again as a fresh-on-the-field Thomas Fraser would be in the right place right time as skipper Lincoln Smith would get painfully close to his own five-pointer in his 100th match before offloading the Gilbert to Fraser.
Making a late surge the Vikings would nab two tries in the final 10 minutes through Joel Leiper and Andrew Robinson the home side would show they have some fight left. However leaving the efforts much too late in the contest as the affair would conclude at a 29-38 win to the Royals.
Canberra Royals 38 (Tries: Charlie Cartwright 2, Joey Henry, Thomas Fraser; Conversions: Pedro Rolando 3; Penalty Goals: Pedro Rolando 4) def. Tuggeranong Vikings 29 (Tries: Junior Time Taotua, Louis Bartley-Saena, Joel Leiper, Andrew Robinson; Conversions: Louis Bartley-Saena 3; Penalty Goals: Louis Bartley-Saena)
