With Raiders still looking for their first win of the season, they travelled to Essex for a bottom of the table clash with Colchester. A must win game for both sides.
Raiders made five changes to the squad for this game due to injuries picked up the previous week and Unavailabilities. The squad had trained well during the week and had plenty of confidence going into the match after their excellent performance in the second half against Dorking the previous week. Returning to the squad was Jack Lake, Will Gearing-Grief, Jimmy Staples and Ollie Streeter, all had missed last week’s game. Ed Hartley made his debut, starting on the bench.
The match was played on Colchester’s artificial pitch in the most awful weather conditions. Rain and gale force winds persisted throughout the game.
Raiders played with the wind on their backs in the first half and it was they who kicked off. The visitors started well, keeping ball in hand, deep in Colchester territory. After five minutes good handling almost brought the first score of the afternoon, but as Kieran Tomlinson was about to cross the tryline, good defence dislodged the ball and the chance was gone.
The wind demonstrated how much influence it would have on the game, when Jack Forrest put in a sixty-metre touch finder, thus turning defence instantly into attack. Following this kick, the hosts conceded a penalty. Raiders put it into touch and followed up with a catch and drive which allowed Jimmy Staples to touch down. Tom Meyer hit the post with the conversion, leaving the visitors with a 0-5 lead after eleven minutes.
Despite the weather conditions a good-sized crowd was in attendance and were able to watch the game from the excellent, sheltered viewing positions provided by the clubhouse. During the next ten minutes Raiders gave away a few penalties which allowed the hosts to relieve the pressure and set up their own attacking positions. Despite their best efforts at this time the visitors defence held firm and with the aid of the wind, defence was again quickly turned into attack.
Raiders’ second try came after thirty minutes. Tom Meyer putting a sixty-metre touch kick to within ten metres of the Colchester try line. The line out produced a catch and drive with Rob Ure peeling off to dive over the line and score. With the conversion blown away from the posts, Raiders now had a 0-10 lead.
Dan Macadams joined the game as a replacement for Ben Featherstone at this point. After thirty-five minutes Colchester scored a converted try to close the gap to 7-10. The visitors had one further attack before the break and looked as if another try would be scored but good defence by the home side caused a knock on and the pressure was relieved.
Half time score: Colchester 7 Worthing Raiders 10
Despite the advantage of the wind and the dominance of territory, it looked as though Raiders had not made the best use of the elements in the first half. Colchester had done a good job of preventing the visitors building a big first half lead.
This made the prospects for the second half look pretty difficult for Raiders as they took their turn to play into the wind and rain. At the break, Raiders replaced Ollie Crow with Alex Havers. The game recommenced with the home side’s kick off. This put them on the attack deep in Raiders’ territory.
The visitors managed to regain possession close to their own try line. There then followed the most amazing try in these conditions. Slowly they made progress, with ball in hand, moving steadily up the pitch, showing great skill and patience. After what must have been a couple of minutes of ball in play, they had reached the opposition’s twenty-two metre line and Jack Forrest made the final defence splitting run to touch down, extending their lead to 7-15 after three minutes of the half. Again, the conversion was taken by the wind and failed to find the posts. Although playing against the elements it was the visitors who had domination of territory and possession at this point in the game.
With ten minutes played Raiders had a penalty, the third one conceded by Colchester in a couple of minutes. From forty metres Jack Forrest took a quick tap, before the home side had a chance to reset their defence. After his initial run with the ball, he handed to Frank Taggart who made further ground before passing to Ollie Streeter, who found himself running down the left wing, he sold a dummy and charged over the line to score. Again, the conversion took second best to the wind, but Raiders now had a 7-20 lead with thirty minutes to play.
At this point Will Gearing-Grief replaced Rob Ure who went off with an injury. Raiders were, despite the conditions, playing controlled, patient rugby. However, three quick penalties in a row resulted in a yellow card for Alex Havers and Colchester took advantage to score from close range under the posts. The conversion was added and the gap closed to 14-20.
The last ten minutes of the game saw the hosts make use of the of the wind to put themselves in good attacking positions. Will Beer made an outstanding effort to prevent a seventy-metre kick from Colchester, finding touch in Raiders’ twenty-two. Having prevented the touch with a full-length dive to knock the ball in field, he was immediately up on his feet and collecting the ball to take on the advancing opposition players. His teammates were quickly back to help him out and the danger had passed.
As the home side threw everything into attack, the visitors repeatedly thwarted them with outstanding defence. A couple of late penalties by Colchester allowed Raiders to control the final moments of the game. When skipper Jack Forrest kicked the ball off the field to end the game, the relief was palpable as Raiders claimed their first win of the season.
Full time score: Colchester 14 Worthing Raiders 20
This win was well-deserved and although Colchester kept the score close Raiders were certainly the better side on the day. The first half performance didn’t bring the points they might have expected but their second half performance in the conditions were exemplary. Five points earned on the road and with confidence growing they are looking forward to the final three games of 2024 knowing they have what it takes to win them all. It would be difficult to choose a man of the match as so many played so well but yet again skipper Jack Forrest stood out with his ability to scythe his way through the defence seemingly at will. He is having an outstanding season as a player and leader of this team.
Referee: Peter Buchanan
Scorers:
Tries: Jimmy Staples, Rob Ure, Jack Forrest, Ollie Streeter
Team: 1. Fraser Bruce 2. Jimmy Staples 3. Ollie Streeter 4. Jack Lake 5. Ben Featherstone 6. Ollie Crow 7. Rob Ure 8. Frank Taggart 9. Sam Myles 10. Jack Forrest – Captain 11. Will Beer 12. Kieran Tomlinson 13. Max Boxall 14. Jake Rutherford 15. Tom Meyer
Bench: 16. Fin Glass 17. Dan Macadams 18. Will Gearing-Grief 19. Alex Havers 20. Ed Hartley
