Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart says his side "played like children", during their 34-18 defeat to Newcastle Knights in a heated match at Campbelltown Stadium.
In a battle of unbeaten teams, the Knights outclassed the Raiders, running in six tries, with centre Bradman Best and wing Edrick Lee both scoring doubles.
Knights fullback Kalyn Ponga led the way in his return from suspension, as the win put Newcastle second on the competition table, one point behind the Parramatta Eels, with the also-unbeaten Penrith Panthers third.
The Knights led from start to finish, with Best opening the scoring in the first minute, and the Raiders never looked in the contest.
Tension boiled over at the end of the game, when footage showed Knights prop David Klemmer attempting to throw a punch, although the referee took no further action.
Regardless, Stuart was furious, as his side slumped to their first loss of the season.
"We started very, very poor," Stuart says. "It was one of those games you want to forget really quickly, because we weren’t in the contest at all.
"We didn't accept the challenge and Newcastle were very good. They man-handled us."
"Defensively, tonight, we were the worst we have defended for two years. It was a very, very poor showing of commitment in defence and it is not just the edges I am talking about - or the right edge.
"It all starts in the middle and we played like children tonight."
The Knights led 16-6 at the break, with tries from Best, Ponga and Enari Tuala cancelling out Jack Wighton's try for Canberra.
Newcastle continued where they left off in the second half, with Lee scoring his brace within six minutes, before the Raiders launched a mini fight-back, as Nick Cotric and Josh Papalii crashed over, reducing the deficit to just 10 points with quarter of the match remaining.
But the Raiders were unable to reel in Newcastle's lead and Best sealed the win when he raced over in the final minute.
