[Source: Raiders/Facebook]

The Raiders ran out comfortable 32-12 winners over the Wests Tigers on Saturday afternoon to give coach Ricky Stuart his 250th win as an NRL coach.

As Canberra achieved back-to-back wins for the first time since Round 19 last year, on the back of an opening-round win over the Knights last week, Stuart became one of just seven coaches to hit that milestone.

At the same time he handed Benji Marshall defeat in his first official game in charge of the Wests Tigers, who briefly looked like fighting back midway through the first half when they scored twice in quick succession after finding themselves down 14-0 after as many minutes.

Rookie five-eighth Ethan Strange was among the Raiders’ best on field, scoring a first half try and then saving one in the dying stages, in what was an intriguing battle against fellow teenage playmaker Lachlan Galvin, who enjoyed a strong performance himself.

Through an opening stanza in which they completed all but one of their sets with the ball, the Raiders scored four tries to 24-12 lead at the break,

A break and some crisp passing down the left – where the Raiders would end up finding success on a number more occasions later in the match – saw Danny Levi score the opener, before Strange powered over for his first try at NRL level.

Jordan Rapana was next, before some substandard defence from the Wests Tigers’ right side saw Xavier Savage streak away, with Jamal Fogarty converting all but one of the tries to go with a seventh-minute penalty.

An 18-minute lull in the scoring was broken by another Fogarty penalty and a short time later Zac Hosking jumped high to grab a bomb and score his second try in as many games as a Raider.