After an excellent win the previous week against CS Stags, Raiders travelled into London to play Hammersmith & Fulham in their last away fixture of the campaign.
Requiring a win to secure eighth place in the league Raiders made only one change to their squad, Max Ravaudet replacing the injured Sam Cook. On a hard, dry pitch Hammersmith & Fulham kicked off with a strong wind at their backs.
Despite playing into the wind Raiders spent most of the half deep in the home side’s territory but were unable to turn this into points. At the first scrum the home side had the put in but the visitors took the ball against the head and set the pattern for the rest of the game.
Although Raiders had by far the better of position and possession the Hammersmith & Fulham defence repelled them with stout defence for most of the half. After twenty minutes skipper Elliott Luke received a yellow card and shortly after Luke Gill followed him to the sin bin. Despite this Raiders continued to look more likely to score than the home side.
Eventually in the thirty-fifth minute Raiders capitalised on all the possession with a converted try. After building an attack over many phases Tom Meyer touched down, and Ed Hartley converted to give them a 0-7 lead.
The half concluded with no further score, although the visitors had many chances during the first forty minutes. A combination of good defence by Hammersmith & Fulham and too many errors by Raiders prevented the score being higher at the interval.
Half time score: Hammersmith & Fulham 0 Worthing Raiders 7
Raiders restarted the game after the break. With the wind now behind them the expectation was that they would be able to build on their slim lead. The visitors continued to dominate the scrum and were awarded several penalties for doing so.
In the tenth minute Raiders pushed the Hammersmith & Fulham scrum back some ten to fifteen metres. The referee indicated he was awarding a penalty to Raiders, but as he played advantage the ball was moved to outside centre, Joel Andrews who cantered in from twenty-five metres to score. Ed Hartley added the extras to extend the lead to 0-14.
Despite being in control, the visitors were still making errors under pressure and eventually the hosts scored a fine team try which they converted, 7-14. Within a few minutes the visitors extended their lead with a well-worked catch and drive, Luke Gill touching down. With the conversion missed the lead stretched to 7-19.
From the restart Raiders secured the ball and Tom Meyer put a long, high kick down field. The defenders failed to catch it and then knocked on to give the visitors a scrum thirty metres from the try line. From here the ball moved to the backs. Ben Heber sold a dummy and breached the defensive line before passing to Jared Penfold on the wing, who outstripped the remaining defence to dive in at the corner. With the conversion slipping past the post the lead now looked a little more secure at 7-24 and the try bonus point had been earned.
The hosts chose to run the ball from everywhere on the field and were extremely dangerous when doing so. Their ambition was rewarded in the thirty-fifth minute when they scored another converted try to reduce the deficit to 14-24.
The final few minutes saw the home side press for more points, but Raiders’ defence held firm and the game came to a close.
Full time score: Hammersmith & Fulham 14 Worthing Raiders 24
It was a hard-earned victory away from home, which means Raiders will finish in mid-table, clear of the relegation play off zone.
With one game left in the season Raiders play Bracknell at home in two weeks to see who will finish in seventh place.
Team: 1. Struan Robertson 2. Elliott Luke – captain 3. Tom Adams 4. Jack Lake 5. Ollie Crow 6. Luke Gill 7. Callum Butler 8. Dan Wallis Downham 9. Austin Steele 10. Tom Meyer 11. Will Beer 12. Ben Heber 13. Joel Andrews 14. Jared Penfold 15. Ed Hartley
Bench: 16. Max Ravaudet 17. Alex Havers 18. Tom Sanderson
Scorers:
Tries: Meyer, Andrews, Gill, Penfold
Conversations: Hartley (2)
