The Eagles will take on the Kia Toa Tigers next week.
The Raiders raced out in front early, Ethan Ramage taking a gap to dot down from his run out of dummy half. Under pressure, the Eagles conceded another try when Tama Apineru had ball in hand and a two-man overlap on the left edge before cutting on the inside shoulder of his drifting defender and sprinting 40m to put the Raiders in front by 10 points.
Eagles captain Kieran Fitzgerald had a scintillating run down the right edge before stepping on the inside of a defender, leaving just Apineru in his way before the tryline, but was pulled down with a head-high tackle, resulting in a penalty try and 10 minutes in the bin for Apineru.
The Eagles capitalised on the one-man advantage, scoring two tries during the 10-minute period. The first was through Fau Papalii, pushing over two defenders on the end of a good spread to get over the line. The second featured a handy bit of footwork from Sam Johnstone who broke the line and scored under the posts.
Veteran Dave Broughton continued to have an impact on the game, tackling Apineru and forcing him to lose possession of the ball after he had broken through the line. Then, just a couple of tackles into the Eagles' attacking set, the ball was spread quickly out wide and Mikal Tuari flew through the air to dot down fully outstretched in the left hand corner.
The Eagles scored their fifth unanswered try when Owen Draper looked to be held up by three defenders just shy of the line, but managed to wrestle his way over in the right-hand corner to make the score 26-10 at halftime.
A resilient Raiders side, buoyed by the words of coach David Reedy, fought back when star centre Willy Time broke through the line and scored under the post. The Raiders then missed two try opportunities, but succeeded in another when Jordan Ruatoe showed some individual brilliance, chipping over the defenders and regathering under pressure to score.
Ramage was leading the charge for the Raiders and, after his great run to catch the defence off guard, the ball found its way to Time who secured another try under the post to tie the scores at 26-26.
With the game in the balance, and all to play for, it was the Eagles who snatched the opportunity.
A quick spread out to the left ended with Mikal Tuari again pulling off a fully outstretched dive to dot down.
Kieran Fitzgerald's successful sideline attempt extended the lead and, just minutes later, prop Marcel Taani sealed the Raiders' fate when he pushed over for a try that proved to be the final act.
