This week Raiders returned to Roundstone Lane for their first home game of 2026 against second in the league, London Scottish Lions.
Despite the terrible weather during the week Raiders managed to put in two good training sessions with around forty players at each.
Selection was still affected by long term injuries to key players like Rob Ure, JD Leali’ifano, Ben Heber and Adam McLean.
Only two changes were made from the side that played at Wimbledon the previous week. Struan Robertson and Eli Akehurst were both unavailable, so Sam Cook started at prop and Joel Andrews in the centre, with Alex Havers and Austin Steele joining the bench.
London Scottish kicked off, defending the northern end of the ground. During the first fifteen minutes the teams shared possession, and honours remained even with neither side troubling the scorers.
Raiders had settled into their work well, looking dangerous in attack and solid in defence. It was the hosts that opened the scoring after seventeen minutes. From a lineout, skipper Elliott Luke set off on a barging run at the visitors’ defence. Just outside the twenty-two-metre area he slipped the ball to Will Beer, who used his pace and strength to avoid the attempted tackles of the London Scottish players to touch down. Tom Sanderson added the extras to give the hosts a 7-0 lead.
When Ed Hartley received a yellow card, London Scottish Lions fought back and despite some good defence by Raiders, they were able to make the extra player count, and they scored their first try of the match. This was converted to level the contest at 7-7.
While the sin bin was still in place, London Scottish were able to record another converted try to take the lead at 7-14 after thirty-six minutes Possession was pretty evenly distributed throughout the half, and both sides used it to good advantage.
With only a minute or so to go to the interval, London Scottish were penalised and Tom Meyer kicked to the corner, so Raiders had a lineout five metres from the Lions’ try line. The ball was caught and the driving maul was set up. As the maul crossed the try line, Elliott Luke touched down and Tom Sanderson again converted to bring the contest back to level the scores at 14-14.
Moments later the referee brought the half to a close and the teams went in for a well-earned rest after some entertaining rugby.
Half time score: Worthing Raiders 14 London Scottish Lions 14
The first half had been possibly better than the home crowd might have expected. Could they maintain this level of performance in the second half? Yes, they could, producing their best forty minutes of the season to take the game away from London Scottish Lions.
Raiders were in attack mode from the restart and after eight minutes an expansive, multi-phase attack resulted in Dan Wallis Downham scoring their third try. Unfortunately, Tom Sanderson couldn’t convert but the hosts were back in front 19-14. The home side went from strength to strength, playing with great confidence and plenty of skill.
After fifteen minutes Raiders were on the attack, deep inside the visitors’ twenty-two. After good, build up play, with backs and forwards linking to stretch the Lions’ defence to breaking point, a penalty try was awarded for a deliberate knock on a metre from the goal line, 26-14.
Within a couple of minutes, the hosts scored again. The move started from a lineout and saw the backs sweep the ball across the pitch with pace and accuracy to Will Beer on the left wing, his pass back inside to Ed Hartley allowed him to ‘round off’ the play with a try that Tom Sanderson converted. Seventeen minutes of the half gone and the lead extended to 33-14.
After twenty-one minutes the coaches started to use the bench, starting with George Gatford replacing Elliott Luke. Raiders sixth try came in the twenty-fifth minute. This try started with a driving maul set up from a lineout. When the drive was halted the ball went to Tom Meyer who put a cross kick to Ed Hartley, he caught it unopposed and ran in to score his second try of the afternoon from twenty-five metres. The conversion was unsuccessful, but the lead had extended to 38-14.
London Scottish Lions were playing catch up and thus taking risks, running from everywhere. Raiders’ defence had been responsible for dampening the visitors’ attacking qualities throughout the game and as they pushed to get the next score, Joel Andrews was able to intercept and sprint home from forty metres for his first try in a Raiders’ shirt. Tom Sanderson converted and with ten minutes left to play the 45-14 lead looked unassailable. Alex Havers and Austin Steele had both joined the game from the bench by this time.
London Scottish Lions are a good side, and with ten minutes left to play they set about trying to get a bonus point. To achieve this, they required two tries in this period. They got the first try with a length of the field break out of defence and the second was due to Raiders overplaying near their own goal line, when a simple clearance would have sufficed. Neither try was converted and the score at the final whistle was 45-24.
Full time score: Worthing Raiders 45 London Scottish Lions 24
Raiders’ supporters have witnessed top class play in short spells from the team during the season, but today they put an almost perfect eighty-minute performance together, showing just what they are capable of when they eliminate simple errors and execute each phase of play efficiently. No doubt the best performance of the season and five valuable points.
The scrum and lineout functioned well, producing quality possession throughout. Offensive and defensive tackling was clearly much improved over recent weeks. All of this allowed team and individual skills to shine through.
A difficult choice for Egremont Man of the Match with so many excellent performances throughout the team, but for his two tries and all-round creative and defensive play, the award went to Ed Hartley.
Referee: Toby Rowe
Attendance: 350
The Egremont Man of the Match: Ed Hartley
Team: 1. Sam Cook 2. Elliott Luke – Captain 3. Tom Adams 4. Ollie Crow 5. Matt Bosworth 6. Jack Lake 7. Luke Gill 8. Dan Wallis Downham 9. Tom Sanderson 10. Tom Meyer 11. Will Beer 12. Joel Andrews 13. Christian Streater 14. Jared Penfold 15. Ed Hartley
Impact Players: 16. George Gatford 17. Alex Havers 18. Austin Steele
