{"id":101371,"date":"2021-07-17T09:52:01","date_gmt":"2021-07-17T09:52:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=101371"},"modified":"2021-07-17T11:58:37","modified_gmt":"2021-07-17T11:58:37","slug":"x-factor-rookie-stars-as-raiders-beat-sharks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=101371","title":{"rendered":"'X-Factor' rookie stars as Raiders beat Sharks"},"content":{"rendered":"

The future looks bright for Canberra after young star Xavier Savage put in a starring performance for the Raiders, who edged out the Cronulla Sharks 34-18<\/a> in the Gold Coast.<\/p>\n

Playing in just his third NRL game to date at fullback, Savage gave Canberra fans a glimpse of what's to come in the future as the Raiders kept their finals hopes alive with their second consecutive win.<\/p>\n

Savage looked impossible to stop nearly every time he ran the ball, finishing the match with 246 run metres, nine tackle-breaks, two line-breaks and a try.<\/p>\n

With scores locked early in the second half, the 19-year-old made one of the most crucial runs of the game when he found a little bit of space to make a big break and set up a try for star teammate Jack Wighton.<\/p>\n

\"Young<\/p>\n

"You've got to say, a star is born here," Andrew Voss said on commentary for Fox League.<\/p>\n

"The X-factor, Xavier Savage. Sensational!"<\/p>\n

"We're watching a kid set the stadium alight."<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/SteveHart10News\/status\/1416325092544417792<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/JohnStensholt\/status\/1416316229313200128<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/AndrewVossy\/status\/1416328557408571396<\/a><\/p>\n

Savage after the match admitted tonight's performance felt like a dream come true.<\/p>\n

"It's everything you dream of since you're a kid," Savage told Fox League after the match.<\/p>\n

"I'm still getting used to it obviously, but it's good to be learning from a couple of the best in the game and be around a great bunch of boys."<\/p>\n

With first-choice fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad out due to a season-ending neck injury, Savage's emergence couldn't have come at a better time for the club.<\/p>\n

"Timely too for the Raiders when you think who they have lost at the fullback position," rugby league great Cooper Cronk said after the match.<\/p>\n

"They need some spark to finish off some tries."<\/p>\n

\"Xavier<\/p>\n

For the Raiders, who needed a win tonight to keep in touch with the top eight, they move up to the ninth spot on the NRL ladder.<\/p>\n

While the loss for the Sharks hasn't done too much damage at the moment, with Cronulla still remaining in the eighth spot.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The future looks bright for Canberra after young star Xavier Savage put in a starring performance for the Raiders, who edged out the Cronulla Sharks […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101371"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=101371"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101371\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":101373,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101371\/revisions\/101373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=101371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=101371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=101371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}