Not exactly sure what you mean by “the Raiders making 60-70m a set for much of the first half”. That is not my recollection and so I went back and took note of the Raiders yardage per set up to the point when Rapana was binned (with 7:20 left in the first half). I counted the metres gained from tackle 1 to the fifth tackle kick, or until their set broke down.
By my calculation they had 15 sets by the time Rapana was marched.
They made in excess of 50m in 4 of those sets as follows: 60m on their first set from the kick off; another 60m on their 8th set (a 7 tackle set); 90m on their 11th set to score a try (which included a kick); and 69m in their 12th set.
There were 3 other sets which they started deep in their own half and made 35m twice and 45m once.
There were 2 sets they started just inside their own half and made 42m and 32m respectively.
There were 4 sets that they started around 30m from our line, or closer, and in 2 of those they were forced back and lost ground.
Our line speed was much better in our own half. And we really outmuscled them in our own quarter. Not sure if that is a tactic.
That makes 13 sets. The other 2 sets they received penalties before they had made much ground.
My impression was that we held our own and that was certainly reflected in the score when Rapana was binned.
