In a gripping Round 5 encounter of the 2025 NRL season, the Canberra Raiders narrowly defeated the Cronulla Sharks 24–20 at GIO Stadium. The match, part of the NRL’s Multicultural Round, showcased the league’s rich cultural diversity and the players’ commitment to celebrating their heritage.
With both teams coming off losses in Round 4, it was an opportunity for the Raiders to snatch up two vital competition points.
“I think if you look at the start of the season, we had two really good games and then had two road trips where we probably weren’t at our best,” Raiders second rower Hudson Young said post-game. “It is always tough to go to Manly and Townsville, so we took some positives out of that. We put ourselves in a position to win that game in Townsville and we knew we just had to come back out here, turn it up for our fans and get the job done tonight, it was a simple as that. We had to win, and we did.”
The Raiders second rower, Matty Nicholson, set the tone early with a try in the fourth minute of the match. The Raiders, attacking in try scoring territory, as a strong run from Nicholson saw him crawl his way over the line. A successful conversion from Jamal Fogarty saw the Raiders with an early six point lead.
Just four minutes later, the Sharks answered back through fill in centre Mawene Hiroti who found a defensive gap over in the left corner which enabled his to side his way through to the try line. Nicho Hynes added the extras levelling the score.
The game’s back-and-forth nature continued as Young was next to cross the line for the Green Machine. A perfectly timed grubber kick from hooker Tom Starling saw Young lead the chase to the four-pointer line.
Shortly after, the Sharks found themselves levelling the score again as Briton Nikora barged his way through Raiders defence, breaking out of the tackle and getting the ball down in the in-goal.
With both teams successful in their conversions, the scores were levelled 12-all with 15 minutes left to play in the first half.
It was again Young and Nikora getting over the line for their second tries of the night to end the first half. A quick offload from Sebastian Kris in the 31st minute saw Young come up with the ball. A clear run at the line in front of his saw him celebrating as another successful conversion saw the Raiders leading by six points.
But just one minute before the halftime siren sounded, the Sharks responded swiftly as Nikora put in a little kick that saw him run his way over to touch the ball down in the try scoring zone before going dead. Hynes converted right on the siren as both teams entered the sheds 18-18.
The Raiders were placed under enormous pressure in the second half, as their try scoring weapon and star playmaker, Young, was sent to the sin bin for a high tackle within the 57th minute under the NRL’s new ruling around high contact in the game.
“It’s just one of those things, the NRL have come down on it. I had no intent in my tackle,” Young claimed.
Just seconds later another high tackle was penalised against the Raiders, but this time the Sharks capitalised on the error by taking a two point penalty goal, as they now lead 20-18.
As time ticked away in the second half, both teams showed enormous resilience as the Sharks still lead 20-18 with two minutes left to play.
A huge line break within the 78th minute on the last tackle from Young saw the Raiders frantically trying to keep the ball alive as they knew this was most likely their last opportunity to win the game. After passing downfield, the Raiders found themselves moving as Simi Sasagi got a pass away inside to Kris who ran his way over the line to win the game for the Raiders in a last minute thriller.
A successful conversion in the final minute from Forgarty saw the Raiders pull off their miracle 24-20 victory over the Sharks.
“We knew it would come down to the last few minutes as it did and in the moment,” Kris commented on his match winning try. “I just thought just keep pushing and it might come back to me. Sure enough, it did.”
“Our whole team is not one to give up and we we’ll fight until the final whistle,” he added.
Beyond the on-field action, the game served as a celebration of the NRL’s multicultural identity. Both teams featured players from diverse backgrounds, reflecting the league’s commitment to inclusivity and cultural representation. The Multicultural Round aims to honour the contributions of players from various cultural communities and promote unity through sport.
“We have a squad of diverse cultures and everyone running out with their different flags, and all the cultures have some similarity, so we feel quite close and as one group,” Kris said.
“It meant a lot tonight.”