Round four of this season’s competition saw high flying Tonbridge Juddians as the visitors to Roundstone Lane.
This has been a difficult start to the campaign for Raiders having to play the top three teams in the league in the first four weeks. In each of the previous matches Raiders have been competitive but inconsistent from minute to minute during games. This week in training they had worked hard to eliminate basic errors in their play in order that they might put in a performance that would surprise the opposition and bring about the first win of the season.
Selection showed four changes from the squad that played at Canterbury the previous week. David Aniebonam, Harrison Dakin and Harry Forrest all returned, and Rob Ure was fit again to play his first game of the season. After a week of heavy rain, Saturday turned out to be a warm, dry sunny day and with a crowd of just over four hundred in attendance it was Raiders who kicked off attacking the southern end of the ground. With only three minutes played, the visitors opened their account with an unconverted try to lead 0-5.
For the next fifteen minutes the game was evenly balanced as the home side set about breaking down the visitors’ defence. They spent plenty of time deep in Tonbridge Juddians’ territory but as in previous weeks errors at key moments prevented them from converting good positions into points. After twenty-two minutes the visitors scored a converted try to stretch the lead to 0-12.
The home side continued to play well, probing the visitors’ defence but yet again were often guilty of turning over possession when in good attacking situations. Tonbridge Juddians struck again in the twenty-ninth minute with another converted try to take the score to 0-19.
For the rest of the half it was Raiders that looked more likely to score. Repeatedly they built good attacking positions deep in Tonbridge Juddians’ half, but breaking down the defence was still an unsolved problem until just before half time when they were rewarded for their effort with a try from Harrison Dakin. The conversion from the touchline was narrowly missed by Charlie Spencer, 5-19.
The hosts had produced a great deal of pressure on the visitors’ defence throughout the half but had not been able to turn it into more points. Good defence from the visitors and careless mistakes from the home side prevented a more even score line at the break.
Half time score: Worthing Raiders 5 Tonbridge Juddians 19
Tonbridge Juddians restarted the game after half time, with Raiders now attacking the northern end of the ground. The home side seemed to have gone off the boil during the break and during the first ten minutes or so were punished by the visitors, who scored three tries, two of which were converted. Thus, with thirty minutes to play Raiders found themselves 5-38 in deficit.
The home side rotated players from the bench in order to regain momentum. To a large degree this was achieved. For the remainder of the game they prevented the visitors from scoring any more points. Their defence was sound and they again created plenty of scoring opportunities.
On the downside each time they looked as if they might score they either conceded a penalty or had their progress thwarted by good Tonbridge Juddian defence. The goal for the last thirty minutes of the game had been to earn a try bonus point but despite tremendous effort from every player this could not be achieved.
Full time score: Worthing Raiders 5 Tonbridge Juddians 38
Although a disappointing result it is obvious there is great potential in the Raiders’ squad. Games won’t get any easier during the season, but Raiders will improve and having been tested to the limit by the top three sides in the league already, lessons will have been learned. One good win and Raiders’ confidence will grow and progress away from the bottom of the league should follow. There were plenty of good individual performances from the new and younger members of the squad with Jake Rutherford receiving his second Man of the Match award to highlight the fact.
Referee: Peter Buchanan
Attendance: 415
The Fox Inn Man of the Match: Jake Rutherford
Scorer
Try: Harrison Dakin
Team
1. Fraser Bruce 2. Elliott Luke 3. Ollie Streeter 4. Jack Lake 5. Dan Macadams 6. Ollie Crow 7. Rob Ure 8. David Aniebonam 9. Jake Rutherford 10. Tom Meyer 11. Harry Forrest 12. Bruno Perry 13. Max Boxall 14. Charlie Spencer 15. Jack Forrest – Captain
Bench
16. Jimmy Staples 17. Balazs Magda 18. Harrison Dakin 19. Ray Jardine 20. Kieran Tomlinson
