The new season is upon us and for Raiders it is the dawn of a new era as they start their campaign to regain National League status.
A new coaching team is in place led by ex-Raiders’ player and Worthing College teacher and rugby coach, Ben Coulson. A dozen new signings have been made to strengthen the squad during the summer.
Raiders’ first game of the season was away to Bracknell. After two months training and three pre-season games, the players were confident of making a positive start. With plenty of competition for places, the coaches announced a first match day squad that contained seven of the new signings, Struan Robertson, Dan Wallis Downham, Luke Gill and Regin Pratt in the forwards and Ben Heber, Christian Streater and Joel Andrews in the backs. Tom Sanderson and Josh Steggles were also making their debuts. Elliott Luke is the new captain and leads the side from his front row position as hooker.
Bracknell kicked off playing down the slope with the strong breeze at their backs. In the early stages of the game the home side managed to keep Raiders deep in their own territory with a combination of open field kicks and strong running from their sizeable forwards.
The hosts opened the scoring with only three minutes played, after some powerful forward charges led to a try. The conversion was missed which left the hosts in a 5-0 lead. Bracknell continued to keep Raiders pinned deep in their own half. Whenever they managed to relieve the pressure, high, deep kicks soon had them back peddling again.
A loose pass from the visitors allowed Bracknell to run a try in almost unopposed from the halfway line. The conversion was again unsuccessful, but Raiders found themselves 10-0 down after fifteen minutes. From this point Raiders started to get themselves into the game. With more possession and better field position they looked a much more potent outfit.
Raiders’ first try of the new league season came in the twenty-fourth minute. Following a well-executed catch and drive, skipper Elliott Luke broke off the maul and powered his way over the line. Tom Sanderson converted to close the gap to 10-7.
The visitors were playing good fifteen-man rugby, which continued to pressurise the Bracknell defence. Twice within two minutes Raiders were held up over the try line resulting in goal line dropouts in both instances. Combined with some solid tackling around the field the visitors looked a much more confident team than the one during the opening minutes.
As often happens when you fail to convert chances into points, your opponents come back strongly as happened here, when Bracknell scored a converted try not long before half time, extending their lead to 17-7.
Half time: Bracknell 17 Worthing Raiders 7
Despite going to the break 17-7 down, Raiders’ performance had been in the ascendancy towards the end of the first half, and they were confident they could still win this match.
Raiders restarted the game after the interval, now playing down the slope. The visitors made just the start they needed, dominating territory and keeping Bracknell’s defence under pressure. With three minutes played Raiders crossed the line after a catch and drive but the referee ruled the ball had been held up and so another goal line drop out resulted. Undeterred the visitors came straight back with controlled attacking play.
After fifteen minutes their efforts were rewarded when Regin Pratt crossed the line to touch down. Tom Sanderson converted to close the gap to 17-14. The visitors took the lead for the first time in the twenty-sixth minute. Bracknell had a line out in their own twenty-two, but failed to find their jumper, Luke Gill scooped up the ball and a powerful surge saw him smash his way through the defence to score Raiders’ third try of the afternoon. Tom Sanderson didn’t get the chance to kick the conversion as he had terrible trouble keeping the ball on the tee, and when the breeze blew it off again the referee deemed his allotted time was up and the visitors missed out on the extras. The hosts found themselves behind for the first time in the game at 17-19.
Unfortunately, Bracknell came straight back and scored a try when Raiders failed to secure the ball from the restart. Although the conversion was missed, they had retaken the lead at 22-19. To make matters worse the hosts scored another unconverted try in the thirty-second minute to extend the lead to 27-19. The less faithful might be thinking Raiders were about to lose the game, but not so. They were soon deep in Bracknell territory and had a good attacking position to put the ball into the lineout. The forwards took the attack towards the goal line, but after several phases they had failed to breach the defence. At this point they changed the point of attack and moved the ball to the backs. Christian Streater, with a combination of guile and strength burst through the attempted tackles and scored close to the posts. Tom Sanderson converted, and the visitors were back in the game at 27-26.
The game was up for grabs and the final eight minutes would be nervous ones for both teams. During this half Bracknell had been guilty of giving away quite a few penalties, several of which were for high tackles. When another penalty was conceded for the same offence the referee’s patience has been tested once too often and the hosts received a yellow card.
Raiders were in a prime position to take the game. Will Beer dived in at the corner only to have the score ruled out for the final pass being forward. This happened while the referee was playing advantage, thus when the pass was forward, he returned to the penalty for Raiders. With four minutes left they elected to kick for three points. Tom Sanderson calmly obliged and the visitors now had a two-point lead at 27-29.
As Raiders’ players, coaches and supporters willed the clock to move to 80 minutes, the game continued in midfield. Nerves were on edge and even more so when Daniel Wallis Downham was yellow carded at a ruck just inside the Raiders’ half.
With the last play of the game Bracknell had the chance to take the win if they could kick the penalty. It was a shot straight in front of the goal from around 45 metres. As the ball was struck it looked to be on target but in the end it dropped safely for Raiders to the left of the posts. Tom Meyer was happy to catch and put it into touch to end the game.
Full Time: Bracknell 27 Worthing Raiders 29
After a long, hard pre-season this was an excellent result for Raiders to get their campaign underway with a win on the road.
There were some outstanding team and individual performances. Every member of the squad played their part and showed why they had been selected.
There is still room for improvement and refinement. Not everything worked as it should, which is understandable in the first game. There was plenty to admire about the performance overall and it has certainly given the coaches and players a great base to build on for the season.
Team: 1. Struan Robertson 2. Elliott Luke (C) 3. Sam Cook 4. Jack Lake (VC) 5. Ollie Crow 6. Daniel Wallis Downham 7. Alex Havers 8. Rob Ure 9. Tom Sanderson 10. Tom Meyer 11. Will Beer 12. Ben Heber 13. Christian Streater 14. Joel Andrews 15. Charlie Spencer
Replacements: 16. Luke Gill 17. Regin Pratt 18. Josh Steggles
Scorers:
Tries: Luke, Pratt, Gill, Streater
Conversions: Sanderson (3)
Penalties: Sanderson
