With only six games left in the season, Raiders travelled to Farnham for a fixture they needed to win to keep in touch with clubs above them in mid-table.
Raiders were pleased to have Ben Heber back in the side after a long absence through injury, however his centre partner Christian Streater is not available for the rest of the season as he is going overseas for a few months.
On a cold, bright afternoon, it was Farnham that kicked off on a very heavy pitch. Raiders were slow out of the blocks and when the home side stripped the ball from them in a tackle, they ran in a try in the first minute of the game. The conversion gave them the lead with seventy-eight minutes to play, 7-0.
The game seemed a little sluggish and neither side had dominance of ball or territory. The visitors, at times, put together some nice phase play and looked dangerous but, too often misplaced passes let them down.
In the twentieth minute a Raiders’ attack brought no reward when the ball was held up over the try line resulting in a goal line drop out.
From a penalty awarded against Farnham in mid-field, the visitors kicked to the corner. From the resulting lineout the forwards drove towards the try line, but were rebuffed several times, at which point the ball was moved out along the backs to Joel Andrews, who had an easy run to the line for Raiders’ first try. Tom Sanderson kicked the conversion to level the score at 7-7.
Raiders made early changes to try and alter the dynamics of the game. Sam Myles and Sam Cook replacing Tom Sanderson and Struan Robertson respectively. Both sides made handling and kicking errors which caused the game to be scrappy and lack continuity.
However, the home side did have a lengthy period of possession deep inside Raiders’ twenty-two shortly before half time. Despite being under sustained pressure close to their line, the visitors defended with great spirit to prevent any further score. This defensive spell included Raiders winning a scrum against the head, no mean feat against their big pack.
Half time score: Farnham 7 Worthing Raiders 7
Raiders restarted after the interval but soon found themselves defending again. With six minutes of the half played, missed first time tackles caused them to concede a second converted try, 14-7.
The visitors responded well. Farnham were guilty of a deliberate knock on resulting in a penalty, but strangely not a yellow card. Raiders kicked to touch, set up a driving maul from the lineout but with only inches to go to the try line the chance of a score was lost when the ball spilled forward. Struan Robertson and Charlie Dale replaced Sam Cook and Matt Bosworth to bring fresh impetus to the visitors’ play.
Excellent individual skill by Sam Myles saw him step through and around several attempted tackles before touching down in the nineteenth minute. Ed Hartley added the extras to bring the scores back level at 14-14. Just on the half hour mark Farnham hit back with an unconverted try to retake the lead at 19-14.
From the restart Raiders immediately regained possession and Ed Hartley burst through the Farnham defence in centre field and sprinted thirty metres to score under the posts. After converting his own try, the visitors now had a two-point lead at 19-21 with less than ten minutes to play.
With the result in the balance there was still all to play for in this final period. Unfortunately for Raiders they were penalised at a ruck some thirty metres in front of the posts. Farnham took the shot at goal and added three points to their tally to retake the lead by one point, 22-21.
With still a couple of minutes to play the visitors attacked from a scrum on the Farnham twenty-two. As Raiders advanced towards the line a tackle was made and the ball appeared to be dislodged by the tackler whilst on the floor, the referee saw it as a knock on by Raiders and the game was brought to a close.
Full time score: Farnham 22 Worthing Raiders 21
A frustrating result as Raiders appeared to have the ability to win this game but inconsistency in their performance throughout prevented them achieving this goal.
Individually there were several performances worthy of note from Raiders’ players. Elliott Luke leading by example, Sam Myles adding his tenacious style and Ollie Crow who carried the ball into and through the opposition’s defence endlessly throughout the game.
Although a tense, close contest, in general it wasn’t an exciting spectacle. Both sides were guilty of making errors and that disrupted the flow of the game.
Raiders earned a bonus point, which helps keep them twelve points clear of the relegation play off zone.
Team: 1. Struan Robertson 2. Elliott Luke – Captain 3. Tom Adams 4. Ollie Crow 5. Matt Bosworth 6. Jack Lake 7. Callum Butler 8. Dan Wallis Downham 9. Tom Sanderson 10. Tom Meyer 11. Will Beer 12. Ben Heber 13. Joel Andrews 14. Jared Penfold 15. Ed Hartley
Bench: Andrews, Myles, Hartley
Scorers:
Tries: Ravaudet (2), Streater (2), Robertson, Gill (2), Beer, Cook
Conversations: Sanderson, Hartley (2)
