Canberra Raiders win over New Zealand Warriors in NRL thriller

Then Chanel Harris-Tavita's conversion attempt - just to the left of the posts - somehow sailed across the face of goal. The Canberra Raiders held onto a 20-18 lead, and the New Zealand Warriors would fly home empty-handed.

"We were lucky, we were really lucky," Raiders coach Ricky Stuart after Canberra snapped a four-game losing streak in front of 8509 fans at Canberra Stadium on Friday night.

Harris-Tavita finished the night with no conversions from three attempts. Returning Canberra halfback Jamal Fogarty hit four from four, and the Raiders claimed two points to ignite their finals ambitions.

But Stuart is far from content after the Raiders nearly blew a 14-point lead and invited the Warriors back into the game before Xavier Savage's late try gave Canberra the ascendancy.

"I'll take the win. No one is going to feel sorry for us if we get beaten being unlucky," Stuart said.

"I've got belief in these guys, unlike a lot of other people who have jumped off us over the last four weeks. I've got belief in these boys and that's my job. I'm not in the business of picking and choosing. We had an off night tonight and won."

Social media comment sections - places to avoid at the best of times - turned sour. If you paid too much attention to them, you'd think Harris-Tavita - thrust into the goal-kicking role after the Warriors lost fullback Taine Tuaupiki and centre Adam Pompey - had blown an entire season.

But Warriors coach Andrew Webster pinned the loss on a poor start and compounding errors, conceding "we didn't give ourselves a chance early".

"We'd love to be 100 per cent on our goal kicking every week, but there's plenty of other things to put it down to, not goal kicking. There's lots of injuries and other things going on, the goal kicking is not the thing that defined us tonight,

"We've got to start better, 14-0 is not good enough and we're just chasing the game for the rest of it."

The win momentarily lifts the Raiders to 10^th and has them sitting just one competition point outside the top eight - and they effectively did it with 16 men after Tom Starling put in an 80-minute shift at hooker, with Danny Levi unused on the bench.

"I don't like not using anybody and getting them on, I apologised to Danny," Stuart said.

"There were some individuals not up to standard tonight and I had to take them off the field, and that disrupted my interchange."

Yet the Raiders prevailed to claim their first win at home in three months on a freezing night in the concrete bowl in Bruce. It was Canberra's smallest home crowd of the year, but the conditions might have made this their most satisfying win.

"With those people that turned up tonight, that was the worst timeslot we could have had this week, at eight o'clock. You know how cold it's been here this week," Stuart said.

"It was freezing out there. I've got to thank those fans. I'm so happy we won for those people, because Jesus, it was freezing. They're your loyal people, they're your loyal ones.

"We've been disappointing at home. We don't try to lose, we've been disappointed we haven't won the last few games at home in front of big crowds, but it's even more satisfying tonight with those people who have come tonight.

"They are your dead set, tough, loyal fans."

Canberra's three-month wait for a win on home soil is over.

Jamal Fogarty's perfect night from the tee saw the Raiders snap a four-game losing streak with a 20-18 win over the New Zealand Warriors in front of 8509 at Canberra Stadium on Friday night.

The Raiders hadn't won at home since April. They hadn't won a game in almost seven weeks. The punters in puffer jackets and beanies figured this one might end the drought as the Raiders skipped out to a 14-0 lead.

But those fans know things don't often come easy around here - so of course this one went down to the wire, with Fogarty's goal-kicking record of four from four proving the difference, with the Warriors managing just one conversion from four attempts.

Raiders halfback Fogarty commanded plenty of column inches before his return from a three-month layoff - and some among the Warriors' back three can tell you why.

Warriors fullback Taine Tuaupiki and winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak both spilled Fogarty bombs, and the Raiders made them pay with points on both occasions.

Tuaupiki was first in the firing line. The 24-year-old dropped a Fogarty bomb before Hudson Young - making his own return after missing a last-start loss to Newcastle - opened the scoring in the ensuing set, and he wasn't stopping there.

Young busted through the Warriors' line to score his second soon after - and again the Raiders halfback had his fingerprints all over it, because it was Fogarty delivering the last pass.

Sure, the Raiders halfback didn't have it all his own way. A 40-20 attempt grazed the touchline on the full, but hey, even Michael Jordan had off nights.

Roger Tuivasa-Sheck scored the Warriors' first late in the opening half but with the hosts still leading 14-6, things were looking a little more rosy than they did during the Warriors' last trip to the capital, when Shaun Johnson and co turned Jarrod Croker's 300^th game into a nightmare.

A Warriors side inspired by Tuivasa-Sheck's move to fullback looked a far more threatening beast on the other side of the break - and it was Kurt Capewell, just two days removed from a brutal State of Origin decider, who struck first in the second half.

Plenty will tell you it's easier to back up from an Origin game two days after than perhaps three or four. Maybe it's the adrenaline still racing through the body. Maybe it's the high of a series victory.

So it was little surprise Mitch Barnett was throwing himself into everything from barnstorming runs to fifth-tackle kicks just 48 hours after helping the Blues to their first series-deciding win in Brisbane since 2005. Barnett charged over for the Warriors' third to level the scores at 14-apiece.

Xavier Savage stole the lead back soon after. Addin Fonua-Blake hit straight back, but Chanel Harris-Tavita's conversion went wide to leave the Raiders ahead by two.

The Raiders are still in the hunt for a third consecutive finals appearance - but then again, the finals aspirations of the majority of teams in the competition still have a pulse. Some are fading faster than others, but those Raiders might just be starting their run.

AT A GLANCE

NRL round 20: CANBERRA RAIDERS 20 (Hudson Young 2, Xavier Savage tries; Jamal Fogarty 4 goals) bt NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS 18 (Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Kurt Capewell, Mitch Barnett, Addin Fonua-Blake tries; Adam Pompey goal) at Canberra Stadium.