Xavier Orsatti’s return to league handball inspired Canberra to their first win of the season, at Olympic Park today, with a win over Hills Heat 22:18 (12:13 at the break).

Canberra had already lost twice to Hills this season, by margins of ten and two.

Xavier, who missed the entire season so far, took little time to settle into the game, leading with assists and goal-scoring. He is yet to fully recover from a broken finger he suffered during pre-season training earlier this year.

The first twenty minutes went goal-for-goal with neither team doing enough to take control of the game, but late in the first half, it looked like once again Hills were going to run-away with the lead after hitting Canberra with a 5-1 goal-spree. Suddenly an 8:6 lead for Canberra became a 9:11 deficit.

Canberra rallied back though and ended the half with one goal down, 12:13.

The game changed and was won in the first ten minutes of the second half, as Canberra took Hills by surprise with four quick unanswered goals. Captain Rob Lans found his form of old too, attacking gaps in Hills' defence line to score a total of 8 goals from the pivot position.

A marked improvement in Canberra’s defence, and successive saves by goal-keeper Curtis Eitzen held Hills to only five goals in the second half, setting-up a comfortable win for the visitors over a team that has dominated this year’s competition.

The club also welcomed Milovan Scepanovic, who made his debut for Canberra in the centre-back position.

Canberra HC defeated Hills Heat 22:18 – For Canberra: Curtis Eitzen, Dragan Radicoski (1 goal), Andrew Lawrence (2), Tom Olesen, Milovan Scepanovic, Daniel Döring (1), Andrew Hunter, Zlatan Ivankovic (3), Xavier Orsatti (7), Robert Lans (8), Sasha Petrovski and Taip Ramadani.