Dragons run down Raiders amid interchange controversy

Anthony Griffin's side overturned a 14-6 halftime deficit to storm home and claim the win, but the Raiders would have had a fight on their hands to keep the two points had they held on after an interchange bungle saw debutant Xavier Savage illegally deployed as an 18th man to start the second half.

The controversy arose after Jack Bird was placed on report for striking Sebastian Kris with a forearm a minute before halftime, with Sam Williams bouncing a penalty goal in off the right upright for an eight-point lead at the break.

Kris subsequently failed an HIA and was ruled out for the game. With Kris ruled out, the Raiders injected Savage into the action as 18th man, despite the fact Bird had not been sin-binned or sent off. NRL rules stipulate that an 18th man can only be used if a team loses a player as result of foul play resulting in a sin-bin or send-off, or suffers three failed HIA's.

Neither occurred, with officials scrambling to pull Savage from the field in the 52nd minute after the error was discovered. An NRL spokesperson confirmed before fulltime that the substitution should not have occurred.

"The rules are clear that an 18th man can only be activated if a player is sin-binned or sent off - or a team has three failed HIAs," the spokesman said.

"The Raiders incorrectly activated the 18th man at the beginning of the second half. The NRL has asked for full reports from the Raiders as well as our staff on duty at the ground to ascertain the circumstances which led to the 18th man being incorrectly activated."

It ultimately proved a moot point, with the Dragons grabbing a much-needed victory that puts them back in the top eight heading into a bye over the standalone Origin weekend.

Skipper Ben Hunt was rocks and diamonds throughout, but produced more of the latter when it mattered, setting up a second-half try for Gerard Beale and nailing a 40-20 that opened the door for Corey Norman's go-ahead four-pointer with 12 minutes left.

Norman converted to put his side ahead by two, its biggest lead of the game, with the hosts able to hold on as the visitors pressed hard to steal the lead back.

Had they done so, the NRL would have surely had to consider stripping the Raiders of the two points given the breach but will now not need to consider the drastic action, though some sanction is expected.

It remarkably saw Ricky Stuart suggest it was "fortunate" his side didn't win as he took full responsibility for the error.

"That was my fault. I thought [the rule] was, when a player gets put on report I'd use my 18^th man," Stuart said.

"There's a lot of confusion goes on, there's been a lot of rul changes this year, I get the mistake, I made it so that's how it occurred. The ground manager spoke to [Raider football manager] Matt Ford and he radioed up and told me and I straight away realised the error I made.

"You can't blame [the NRL officials], it's an error. We make errors and if you jumped on every errror that's made no one would have a job.

"I suppose, fortunately we didn't win and it saves a few blokes, myself included ansd the ground manager, a bit of skin. It was an error, and I apologise."

The Raiders looked set on an ambush when Corey Harawira-Naera scored after just eight minutes, breezing past Norman. Kris brushed past some flimsy defence for the Raiders second in the 19^th minute, with the visitors making use of the gale-force wind behind them.

The Dragons went close to a hit back when Cody Ramsey kicked ahead after being put into space by Brayden Wiliame. He was checked on his run by Bailey Simonsson, with debutant Tyrell Sloan failing to ground the ball despite being first on the scene.

The passage was sent to the bunker, with Simonsson penalised but not sent to the sin-bin. The Dragons made it count next set, with Billy Burns crossing untouched off a short ball from Hunt.

Williams knocked a penalty goal in off the upright after Bird was placed on report for a forearm to head of Kris just a minute before the break, giving the Raiders an eight-point cushion at halftime.

The Dragons were full of running to start the second stanza, Andrew McCullough making use of the wind with a 40-20. The Raiders were pinged for not squaring up at marker in the ensuing set, with Norman nailing a penalty goal to bring the margin back to six.

The tide looked to have turned only for Hunt to spill the ball cold at first receiver on the very next set. Joseph Tapine barged over moments later to re-take a 12-point lead and give his side the running.

Hunt quickly atoned, breaking the Dragons open from halfway and finding Beale in support for his side's second try.

Savage came from the field as Norman's conversion was waved away, with the Dragons drawing back within four on the back of Sloan's first NRL try after neatly kicking ahead from himself. Norman gathered the loose ball and provided a deft off-load for the rookie to finish and cut the margin back to a single try.

Jack Wighton got across on the Raiders next journey up the park, but was pulled back when replays showed Simonsson impeded Sloan in the lead-up.

Hunt's clutch 40-20 saw Norman cross from a neat Paul Vaughan-off-load and nail the extras to take the lead with 10 minutes to play. It proved enough, with Griffin proud of his side's grit in forcing the win late."

"It wasn't pretty but we just had to get that one done tonight," Griffin said.

"It was three tries to one in the second half and we had the wind and used it really well. We missed the start, we let in a couple really soft tries, both our halves missed one-on-one tackles, so we had to do it the hard way from 12-0 [down].

"I thought at halftime we were on top. We were probably unlukcy not to be a bit closer but we managed the secon half well.

"We're still not at our best defensively but once we got in range I thought we were a really good chance. Once it got to four or six [down] in the middle of the second half I thought we had the ability to come over them the last 20 minutes and snatch the game."

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