After an excellent home victory the previous week at Roundstone Lane, Raiders travelled to Dulwich to play Old Alleynians in round nineteen of this season’s campaign.
Unfortunately, last week’s win came at a price in terms of injuries to Sam Myles and Matt Bosworth, who were both unable to play in this match. Tom Meyer and Callum Butler replaced them in the squad.
On a very heavy pitch it was the visitors that kicked off playing up the slope. For the first few minutes Raiders couldn’t get their hands on the ball and consequently did a lot of defending. Slowly the visitors got themselves into the game.
Old Alleynians were guilty of giving away several penalties which allowed Raiders to gain good field position and to have the majority of possession for several minutes. With all the pressure they exerted on Old Alleynians’ defence they probably should have scored more than one try in the first half.
Raiders did eventually open the scoring in the twenty-fifth minute. From a penalty Ed Hartley kicked to touch to give them a line out fifteen metres from the host’s goal line. Initially they set up a driving maul and after the forwards had had a go at breaking through the defence without success, the ball was thrown wider to Ben Heber who ploughed through a couple of tackles to score a well-worked try. Ed Hartley converted to give Raiders a 0-7 lead.
After thirty minutes Old Alleynians received a yellow card for a high tackle. Almost immediately after this the home side received a red card for foul play in a scrum. Raiders had a real chance to take the game away from the hosts but due to good defending they were unable to do so. When the interval came it seemed that Raiders should have had a bigger lead to carry into the second half.
Half time score: Old Alleynians 0 Worthing Raiders 7
The home side restarted the game after the interval and were in the ascendancy from that point.
After six minutes Old Alleynians levelled the score with a converted try, 7-7. Raiders fought back with some fine multi-phase play but were unable to turn it into points.
As the half progressed the home side appeared to gain confidence and put Raiders’ defence under more and more pressure.
The game went through a period of very scrappy play with neither side able to control the ball for any length of time. Old Alleynians scored another converted try to take a 14-7 lead after seventeen minutes.
As the half advanced Raiders made too many basic errors to turn possession into points. At times It was in the hosts who looked to have the extra man on the field and not as it was, Raiders.
Old Alleynians kicked a penalty from in front of the posts to extend their lead to 17-7. Will Beer received a yellow card for a deliberate knock on.
Raiders couldn’t keep possession long enough to really put pressure on Old Alleynians’ defence and as the game was moving towards its close, they looked less likely to close the gap.
The final play of the day saw Ed Hartley yellow carded. The hosts then put the ball out of play to bring the match to its conclusion.
Full time score: Old Alleynians 17 Worthing Raiders 7
This was one of the most disappointing results of the campaign. With three games left in the season Raiders will need to win at least one and preferably two games in order to stay out of the relegation play offs.
While several individuals performed well, the team found it difficult to execute the game plan in the heavy conditions. Basic errors and decision making also played their part in this less than perfect performance.
In two weeks, Raiders entertain C S Stags at Roundstone Lane and will need to reproduce the form they showed in the last home game against Maidenhead.
Team: 1. Sam Cook 2. Elliott Luke – Captain 3. Tom Adams 4. Ollie Crow 5. Struan Robertson 6. Jack Lake 7. Luke Gill 8. Dan Wallis Downham 9. Tom Sanderson 10. Josh Taylor 11. Will Beer 12. Ben Heber 13. Joel Andrews 14. Jared Penfold 15. Ed Hartley
Bench: 16. Callum Butler 17. Alex Havers 18. Tom Meyer
TR: George Gatford
Scorers:
Tries: Ben Heber
Conversations: Ed Hartley
