League: Hat trick birthday present for Raiders' centre

University's Hayden Ladkin, with team-mate Mahara Rudolph in support, makes a break during the...
University's Hayden Ladkin, with team-mate Mahara Rudolph in support, makes a break during the game against Kia Toa at the Oval on Saturday. Photo by Craig Baxter.
South Pacific Raiders centre Jermaine Stone celebrated his 21st birthday with a hat trick of tries as the Raiders extended their unbeaten run to six matches with a 50-4 win over the Harbour Seals on Saturday.

Stone and Graeme Cashmore caused the Seals trouble all day as they hit the line from deep and at pace.

They broke through on several occasions and dominated the midfield match-up in the Raiders' 10 tries to one victory.

The Raiders were simply too good for a Seals team that made too many errors and mistakes to be competitive.

The game was controlled from the outset by the Raiders as they ran out to a 30-4 lead at halftime.

Their forward pack dominated and there was some nice ball distribution and running lines from their backs.

Play continued in similar fashion in the second half, as the Raiders ran in a further four tries.

Play was a heated at times and both teams lost a player to the sin bin. The Seals lost prop Loho Fau for 10 minutes, after consecutive high shots early in the half, and the Raiders lost standoff Tamati Davis in the 65th minute, for a no-arms tackle.

As the frustration built up, the Seals made too many high shots and referee Lindsey Dunlop had to chat to both captains after a minor scuffle threatened to turn into a brawl in the 70th minute.

The Kia Toa Tigers bounced back from last week's loss to the Raiders, scoring 10 tries to two in a 44-10 win over University.

The Tigers had too much firepower and produced a fine defensive display for a University side that tried till the end but just seemed to lack variety at times.

It was a tight first half with the Tigers holding a 14-6 lead at the break.

University was right in the game up until the 60th minute. But the Tigers gradually asserted their dominance with some nice ball play from standoff Ryan Tapsell and halfback Tangi Rouvi.

Tigers lock Kyle Walters had a strong game and scored two tries in the second half, the last of which was right on fulltime when University was on attack 10m out from the Tigers line.

A kick was put in by standoff Shawn Gielen-Relph which hit the legs of a Tigers player and Walters scooped it up and ran 90m to score.

The Tigers rested some players and brought others off the bench and this seemed to add another dimension to their game, with captain Joel Taniora moving to fullback late in the first half.

University props Peter Tovio and Tom Bywater and halfback Grant Milne battled hard all game.

 

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