Canberra took a two try lead into half time, then weathered a late Tigers comeback to win their first game of the season.

Wests, who had previously won matches they were expected to lose, couldn’t come up for the third week in a row, and struggled without captain Darren Senter.

Acting skipper Terry Hill also had to be replaced early on, after finally succumbing to his serious groin complaint.

The Raiders came out against a pro-Wests crowd pumped up for a good performance.

A smart kick from halfback Brett Finch into the Tigers in goal gave Canberra a chance for a repeat set of six, and from that second rower Ruben Wiki barged over the tryline for the game’s first four-pointer.

Unfortunately for Canberra, goalkicker Clinton Schifcofske was unable to add the extras, keeping the score at 4-0 after four minutes.

The Tigers took their time settling, and with Canberra kicking deep into their territory it took them a lot of effort to get over the Raiders halfway line at times.

With 14 minutes on the clock, the Tigers worked themselves into a good attacking position, enabling halfback Ben Jeffries to roost a towering towards the wing of Raider Odell Manuel.

Manuel panicked under the high ball, dropping it cold, and Wests Tigers five eighth Matt Seers was on the spot to take advantage of the mistake and grab Wests' first try.

Joel Caine was unable to add the extras, the scores tied at four apiece.

The pace of Raiders five eighth Mark McLinden came into play just before the twenty minute mark: centre James Evans found space in the Wests defensive line, and turned the ball back inside to McLinden, who raced past the Tigers defence to score left of the posts.

This time Schifcofske was able to get the extra two points, opening up a six point gap for the Raiders.

The Tigers, who had done extremely well in blunting the attacks of the Bulldogs and Eels in the first two rounds, were having remarkable trouble dealing with the enthusiastic play of the young Raiders, winless from their previous two matches.

With a little over five minutes remaining in the half, Tigers stand in skipper Terry Hill had to be Medi-cabbed from the field with what looked to be an aggravation of the serious groin problem he carried into the game.

With the halftime hooter sounding in the background, Schifcofske snatched a field goal for the Raiders to give them a handy eleven point advantage going into half time.

The handling was sloppy immediately after the break- both sides wasted try scoring opportunities with dropped ball in situations close to the opposition tryline.

The Raiders looked like they were the first team to add points in the second half, after a poor last tackle option by Tigers prop Corey Pearson resulted in a length of the field break by Canberra.

From the resulting set of six, Manuel looked to have crossed in the right hand corner for Canberra, but was adjudged to have put his foot into touch by video referee Phil Cooley.

Buoyed by the vociferous Stadium Australia crowd, the Tigers desperately tried to peg the scores back with enterprising play, but were blunted by some staunch defence by the Raiders.

Finally, the Tigers persistence paid off and they scored with just under ten minutes remaining, giving them a sniff of victory.

The ball came loose close to the Raiders' goal-line after being knocked out of the hands of 150 gamer Mark O’Neill.

Luckily for Wests, the ball ended up in the hands of Ahmad Bajouri, who crashed past Jamaal Lolesi on the Raiders wing and over the line for a vital four pointer.

Joel Caine landed the conversion from a difficult angle, putting the Tigers within a converted try of Canberra.

The Tigers made one more desperate attempt before the siren sounded, but Canberra held on to run out victors 15-10.