[Source: NRL News]

The Knights have jumped to ninth place on the Telstra Premiership ladder after powering past the Raiders 28-6 for their fourth-straight win.

Newcastle left the Raiders in a state of shock with a commanding first-half performance which saw them run up 20 unanswered points, and while the scoring rate dropped off in the second 40 minutes, Newcastle’s intensity didn’t and the Raiders were never really in the contest.

Even with the result secured, the Knights came up with some huge goal-line efforts in the final five minutes to deny Canberra consolation tries.

It leaves Adam O’Brien’s side sitting just one point back from the top eight, pending the result of the Titans v Cowboys match later in Round 22, while Canberra – who missed 44 tackles and completed at just 61 percent – risk finishing the weekend as low as seventh due to their negative points differential.

Kalyn Ponga made a commanding start to the game with a long-range break just two minutes in and never looked back.

Despite spending time off the field for a HIA, the superstar No.1 racked up over 200 metres in running, to go with a try on seven minutes and a subsequent try assist.

After Ponga dotted down following a Lachlan Fitzgibbon break, the Raiders were made to pay for a sloppy error coming out of yardage, with Greg Marzhew crossing in the corner and Ponga nailing the sideline conversion, which after an earlier penalty goal gave the visitors a 14-0 lead.

Dom Young stretched the lead further with his 20th try of the season before the break, and just two minutes into the second stanza Tyson Gamble streaked away for another.

Minutes after scrambling to stop a Hudson Young try with a desperate chase, Newcastle finally broke and let Jordan Rapana get the better of them on the edge.

But the Raiders shot themselves in the foot again soon after, and following an unsuccessful challenging of on-field decision of a strip in front of their own posts, they fell behind by another two when Ponga took the easy points on offer.

The Raiders dominated time spent in opposition territory in the final quarter, but either coughed up cheap errors or simply had no answer for a determined Newcastle line.

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