THE Canberra Raiders had a feeling last night's clash with the Bulldogs at ANZ Stadium would go down to the wire, so they practised a field goal set play on the morning of the game.
Unfortunately when the time came to execute the crunch play the Bulldogs' rushing defence prevented five-eighth Terry Campese from getting his kick away.
The Raiders nearly pulled off one of the upsets of the NRL season last night, but couldn't come up with the killer blow in their 23-20 loss to the second-placed Bulldogs.
Campese had a chance to snatch the lead with a conversion attempt when the score was 21-20 with nine minutes to play.
But his sideline kick narrowly missed to the right.
The Bulldogs' rushing defence then stopped him from attempting to tie the game by booting a field goal from in front of the posts in the 78th minute.
Bulldogs winger Hazem El Masri instead landed a penalty goal as the siren sounded, as his team hung on for its 15th win of the season.
For more, pick up a copy of today's Canberra Times
Email a friend