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The Knights slay the Dragons at Hunter Stadium and the Raiders roast the Rabbitohs, while the Roosters surge past Cowboys.
Get the lowdown on the day's NRL action in our ScoreCentre.
Knights back to winning ways against Dragons
Newcastle have dealt a bitter blow to St George Illawarra's NRL finals aspirations with a 21-14 upset win on Saturday afternoon at Hunter Stadium.
Having led at half-time on eight occasions this season before ultimately going down, the last-placed Knights broke an eight-game losing streak.
Paul McGregor's side are in danger of missing the finals, having come into the round in eighth but have Penrith snapping at their heels, equal on 24 points.
The Knights led 14-12 at halftime and the Dragons evened up the scores through a Gareth Widdop penalty goal with 20 minutes remaining.
After a dour and error-riddled second half, the Knights broke the deadlock when Josh King dumped the ball out the back close to the line and Jacob Saifiti scooped it up and scored to give the home side a six-point advantage.
The Knights have lacked composure at key times in 2017 but Trent Hodkinson kept his cool under pressure to nail a field goal in the 79th minute to seal his side's third win of the year.
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Raiders roast Rabbitohs
Canberra have kept their slim NRL finals hopes alive with a comfortable 32-18 win over South Sydney at the Olympic stadium.
The win moved the Raiders to within four points of the eighth and ninth-placed St George Illawarra and Penrith, after the former were beaten by Newcastle.
With games against Cronulla and Melbourne to come, the Raiders made easy work of the hapless Rabbitohs, who again lost captain Sam Burgess to a rib injury.
After they led 20-6 at halftime, the Raiders crossed twice in a 10-minute period as Souths were reduced to 12 men from an Angus Crichton professional foul to seal the win.
Without suspended players Jordan Rapana, Josh Papalii and Sia Soliola, the Raiders' left edge of Joe Tapine, Blake Austin, Jarrod Croker and Nick Cotric tore the Rabbitohs to
shreds.
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Roosters come from behind to beat Cowboys
The Sydney Roosters have reclaimed second spot on the NRL ladder with a stirring 22-16 comeback win over North Queensland on Saturday night.
The Roosters were down 16-6 — their biggest halftime deficit of the season — when Daniel Tupou scored soon after the resumption.
The try sparked a Roosters onslaught on both sides of the field, with bench forwards Sio Siua Taukeiaho and Zane Tetevano particularly damaging down the middle of the field.
Taukeiaho fittingly powered over from close range to level the scores, before Luke Keary beat a tiring defence for the go-ahead points in the 61st minute.
Latrell Mitchell sealed the win six minutes later with a penalty goal.
The second-half fightback was even more impressive given they are without key men Boyd Cordner, Jake Friend and Michael Gordon.
Taukeiaho finished with 200 metres in just 40 minutes of play, while the Roosters also enjoyed 21 plays inside the opposition 20-metre zone compared to the Cowboys' six in the second half.
The win lifts the Roosters back over Cronulla and within two points of ladder leaders Melbourne, who meets Manly on Sunday.
The defeat for the Cowboys, who could have leapfrogged the Roosters into fourth spot with a win, ended a four-game winning run without champion playmaker Johnathan Thurston.
The Roosters started strongly when centre Mitchell burned four players on a 60-metre sideline run in just the third minute.
But the Cowboys showed their premiership mettle with the final three tries of the half — the first two set up by Lachlan Coote on well-executed set plays.
First, the full-back used quick hands to put Kane Linnett over on the left edge, before again creating an overlap to send Kyle Feldt across in the opposite corner.
The Cowboys took a commanding 10-point lead into halftime when Coen Hess powered over for a dubious close-range try in the 32nd minute.
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Topics: nrl, rugby-league, sport, australia
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