Cornish shows qualities which saw him named captain

Halfback Mitch Cornish set up two of his team's three tries as the Raiders under 20s opened their campaign with a gritty 16-10 victory against the Melbourne Storm at Canberra Stadium yesterday.

Giant prop Shannon Boyd and five-eighth Jack Wighton were also impressive in the driving rain, showing the benefits of training with the club's NRL squad during the summer.

But it was Cornish who proved to be the match winner, displaying the leadership qualities which made him the choice to be handed the captaincy.

''It was really up to our forwards, they dug in and did the hard yards for us,'' Cornish said.

''It's good to have [Boyd] and Jacko back from first grade, they're definitely assets for the team.''

Joe Bradley's try on the back of a Cornish line break after seven minutes gave the Raiders the perfect start, only for the Storm to hit back in the 25th minute.

Both sides traded tries before the break to leave the scores deadlocked at 10-all.

That was until the 55th minute when a clever kick from Cornish was latched on to by towering centre Edrick Lee. The Raiders hung on in the final 25 minutes, defending strongly on their line to ensure coach Andrew Dunemann secured the two premiership points in his first game in charge.

Canberra Raiders 16 (J Bradley, B Smith, E Lee tries; M Cornish 2 goals) bt Melbourne Storm 10 (M Fonua, D Solomona tries; M McGahan goal) at Canberra Stadium.