Game eleven and Raiders reach the halfway point in the season with a home fixture against Hammersmith and Fulham.
After a good start to the season, Raiders have failed to maintain the winning habit.
On their visit to Stags the previous week Raiders picked up another couple of injuries to key players Regin Pratt and Joel Andrews, neither of which recovered in time to be part of this week’s squad. Matt Bosworth was also unavailable and so three changes were made. Struan Robertson and Ethan Stone returned to the squad.
A couple of hours before kick-off, Tom Adams had to pull out of the squad due to illness, Alex Perry replaced him at short notice.
With only four wins so far this season, the hosts in eighth place were looking to end the first half of the campaign with a win over eleventh placed Hammersmith and Fulham.
It had rained all week and the pitch was soft but still in excellent condition all things considered.
Hammersmith and Fulham kicked off playing towards the southern end of the ground. A strong, blustery wind was blowing across the pitch from the west. Fortunately, the rain held off for the duration of the match.
Raiders started well, maintaining possession and making ground with ball in hand.
After textbook approach work, going through the phases, the ball was moved wide to Will Beer on the left wing allowing him to get the first score of the afternoon in the corner. Tom Sanderson was unable to convert into the strong wind. Twelve minutes played 5-0 to the home side.
For the next few minutes both sides probed with ball in hand or by use of the kick. There was no further score until the twentieth minute when the hosts scored another unconverted try. This came from a first phase move in the backs from a scrum. Lewis Reed was on the end of lay to get the touch down. 10-0 to Raiders.
Hammersmith and Fulham then got themselves into the game when Raiders failed to secure the ball from the restart. This led to a converted try in the twenty-third minute, closing the gap to three points at 10-7.
Although Raiders looked comfortable in their play little errors were costing them the chance to extend the lead. Inevitably it was the visitors who then scored another try, this time unconverted, but allowing them to take the lead at 10-12.
Unfortunately, skipper Elliott Luke and Ben Heber both had to leave the game due to injury.
Raiders built some excellent attacks involving forwards and backs despite the tricky conditions. However, they couldn’t quite get over the line to capitalise on these situations.
The closest they came was from a rampaging run from Ollie Crow who was within a couple of metres of the try line when the defence brought him down and the ball was lost.
The half ended when the hosts had a great attacking line out, ten metres from the try line, unfortunately the ball wasn’t secured and the defence was able to blot out any chance of another score before the interval.
Half-time score: Worthing Raiders10 Hammersmith & Fulham 12
Raiders restarted the game after the interval and were immediately on the attack. As they pushed the defence backwards, it looked like another chance to score until the ball was spilled in a tackle.
Another excellent build up, which went through multiple controlled phases the ball was knocked on five metres from the Hammersmith and Fulham goal line.
With ten minutes played, the hosts developed an attack from a scrum and Tom Meyer ran a teasing line across the front of the defence before changing his angle and cutting through to touch down. This was unconverted but the lead was restored for the home side at 15-12.
Raiders came close to scoring on a couple more occasions but one chance went begging when a penalty was awarded for going off feet at a ruck and another when a pass was dropped at a vital moment.
In the twenty-second minute the hosts played some outstanding rugby in the backs, which was started by Tom Meyer when he collected a high kick in his own half. After some pacey running and handling, Austin Steele ran through unopposed to score the try. Tom Sanderson added the extras to extend the lead to 22-12.
With Raiders controlling most areas of the game at this stage, it looked like they could score more points and ease away to a comfortable win, however Hammersmith and Fulham renewed their efforts and soon had Raiders under plenty of pressure.
The hosts seemed to be coping well, defending strongly and clearing their defensive area with long kicks. The visitors maintained the pressure on Raiders and after turning the ball over in midfield they were able to score another converted try to close the gap to 22-19.
The final five minutes were nervous ones for the home supporters as Raiders had to soak up several dangerous attacks by the visitors.
With forty minutes played, Raiders turned the ball over at a ruck and were able to put the ball out of play to bring the game to its conclusion.
Final score: Worthing Raiders 22 Hammersmith & Fulham19
A much-needed win and five precious points earned. Despite the poor weather conditions, a good crowd of 250 plus were in attendance to witness an entertaining match. Raiders should have won more comfortably, spurning several gilt-edged chances prevented them from doing so. Again, this young, injury ravished squad played really well for periods of the game but were inconsistent and thus unable to dominate for the full eighty minutes.
Referee: Chris Scott
The Egremont Man of the Match: Luke Gill
Team: 1. Struan Robertson 2. Elliott Luke 3. Sam Cook 4. Jack Lake 5. Ollie Crow 6. Alex Havers 7. Ethan Stone 8. Luke Gill 9. Tom Sanderson 10. Josh Taylor 11. Will Beer 12. Ben Heber 13. Christian Streater 14. Lewis Reed 15. Tom Meyer
Bench: 16. Max Ravaudet 17. Alex Perry 18. Austin Steele
Scorers:
Tries: Beer
Penalties: Sanderson (2)
