After winning their first match of the season away at Bracknell the previous week, Raiders entertained Camberley in their first home fixture of the new campaign.
Having picked up five points in the first game, Raiders find themselves in only sixth place, an early indication of how competitive this league will be.
With well over forty players at training during the week, the coaches had plenty to think about in selecting the squad to play against Camberley. The second team had also had a good win against a Richmond side the week before and thus there was plenty of competition for places.
In the end selection saw little change in the side selected, Adam McLean came into the starting line up at full back to make his first team debut, in place of Charlie Spencer. The rest of the squad was rubber stamped.
The heavy rain that fell on and off all morning finally relented before the teams began their warmups. The game was then played in bright sunshine with a brisk breeze coming in from the southwest.
The visitors kicked off and the hosts defended the northern end of the ground in the first half. Raiders made a confidence building start with a try in the fourth minute. From a line out deep in the Camberley’s territory they set a maul and drove towards the goal line. Prop forward Struan Robertson touched down and Tom Sanderson converted giving them an early 7-0 lead.
Despite conceding first, the visitors came back strongly and deservedly levelled the score with a converted try of their own, 7-7 after fourteen minutes.
From the restart, Will Beer won the ball in the air and made ground forward. When he was stopped the forwards took over and carried the ball at close quarters towards the Camberley try line. The defence was able to thwart the forward surges and so the home side then moved the ball into the backs and centre Christian Streater scored, and Tom Sanderson was again on target with the conversion. 14-7 to the Raiders after sixteen minutes.
The visitors came back strongly and spent some time pushing Raiders back deeper into their own territory. The hosts’ defence held firm and soon they turned defence into attack. With twenty-four minutes played, Camberley conceded a penalty, and Tom Meyer put the touch finder within ten metres of the try line. From the line out the ball was again driven at close quarters by the forwards. Once forward movement ceased, they moved the ball to the backs and Will Beer didn’t need a second invite to go through a gap in the defence and score the home side’s third try. Again, Tom Sanderson added the extras. The lead now extended to 21-7.
At this stage Raiders looked to have the upper hand, but Camberley defended well and had the ability to hit back given half a chance. However, on the half hour mark the hosts scored the bonus point try after some excellent interplay between backs and forwards. Skipper Elliott Luke rounded off the move to score unopposed, and Tom Sanderson hit his fourth conversion of the afternoon.
A comfortable 28-7 lead had been built but the visitors came back strongly to score their second try just before the break. Although unconverted, they closed the gap to 28-12 as the referee brought the half to a close.
Half-time: Worthing Raiders 28 Camberley 12
Raiders restarted the game after the break and were quickly on the attack again. After three minutes Tom Meyer kicked to touch from a penalty in midfield. The ensuing line out was on the visitors twenty-two metre line. The ball was quickly moved into the back line and Will Beer appeared in the centre from the blind side wing, his initial break made the space to feed Adam McLean, who beat the final defender to score his first try for Raiders. Tom Sanderson added his fifth conversion of the afternoon and the lead stretched to 35-12.
It didn’t take long for Camberley to come fighting back with a converted try of their own, reducing that lead to 35-19 with eight minutes of the half played.
The game was highly entertaining for the crowd of three hundred and fifty and was rapidly turning into something of a try fest.
Both sides were guilty of allowing the other side a scoring chance soon after scoring themselves and that is exactly what happened next.
Tom Meyer’s restart kick went deep, and Camberley failed to secure the ball, in fact they knocked the ball back over their own goal line and it went dead in goal. This resulted in a five-metre scrum to Raiders. From the scrum the forwards took the ball through a couple of phases before Regin Pratt crossed the line. Tom Sanderson converted his sixth in a row to extend the lead to 42-19.
A few moments later a kick out of defence by Raiders was allowed to bounce by the visitors, Tom Meyer was on hand to scoop up the ball and set up the backs with a chance to move the ball wide. The move stalled for a moment when a pass went behind Will Beer, but it was reignited enabling Christian Streater to score his second try of the afternoon. Tom Sanderson lost his 100% record when his conversion went wide.
With the score at 47-19 and about a quarter of the game remaining, the lead looked like a winning one, however the visitors had different ideas and hit back with another converted try, 47-26. Things became more difficult for Raiders when winger Joel Andrews was yellow carded. Despite being a man down, they continued to play expansive rugby and were rewarded with a penalty. Tom Meyer again found a good touch deep in Camberley territory. From the line out the forwards used their power to put Regin Pratt over for his second try of the game. Normal service was resumed as Tom Sanderson converted his seventh of the day.
With the score at 54-26, Joel Andrews returned from the sin bin, but almost immediately Regin Pratt received a yellow card.
Camberley needed no second invitation and their persistence paid off when they scored the last try of the afternoon which was unconverted, to make the final score 54-31.
Full-time: Worthing Raiders 54 Camberley 31
A good game for the spectators to enjoy with both sides demonstrating their ability to score trys throughout the eighty minutes. However, it would be true to say that Raiders always appeared to have more control in the game. As last week there were very pleasing team and individual skills on show. Another five points puts Raiders in third place after the first two rounds.
Still plenty to work on as the season develops but as good a start could have been wished for.
There were plenty of players in line for the Man of the Match award but in the end the honour went to centre Christian Streater for his two tries and all-around performance.
Referee: Rob Hitch
Team: 1. Struan Robertson 2. Elliott Luke – Captain 3. Regin Pratt 4. Jack Lake 5. Ollie Crow 6. Dan Wallis Downham 7. Luke Gill 8. Rob Ure 9. Tom Sanderson 10. Tom Meyer 11. Will Beer 12. Ben Heber 13. Christian Streater 14. Joel Andrews 15. Adam McLean
Replacements:
16. Sam Cook 17. Alex Havers 18. Josh Steggles
Scorers:
Tries: Robertson, Streater (2), Luke, Beer, McLean, Pratt (2)
Conversions: Sanderson (7)
