Raiders A’s Win Canterbury Shield Division Two South

On the first hot sunny day of the year the Raiders A’s travelled to Sunbury to play London Irish Amateurs knowing that nothing less than a bonus point win would be good enough to ensure the league title. The side had trained well in the week and was confident that no matter what side their opponents fielded they would be able to produce the performance required. All week the focus had been on attention to detail, ensuring that the little things which go to making the Raiders’ brand of rugby so successful were in place and perfected.

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Raiders A’s 37 v 3 Westcombe Park 2nds

On Saturday the Raiders A’s took to the field for their final home game of the season against one of their main rivals for the league title. The A’s have had a fantastic season and all the talk before kick off was about being professional in what they do and reflecting on the ten months of work it had taken to get to this point.

The game started well and the A’s instantly showed the opposition that they were in for a tough day pinning them deep into their half. The opposition managed to hold out until the twelfth minute when they finally conceded a penalty. Jack Metters, playing at ten this week, stepped up and put the A’s 3-0 up. From the kick off the A’s forced opposition back into their own half and again they conceded a penalty which Metters converted to put the A’s 6-0. more...

A's beat Hammersmith 40 to 07.

Hammersmith & Fulham II v Raiders A's

The Raiders 'A's travelled to fifth placed Hammersmith, knowing they would be in for another tough away game against an in form side who had recently beaten second placed Barnes. The side was much changed from that which had beaten Richmond the previous week, with Luke and Greenwood unavailable and Dickens and Emmerson out injured. A major reshuffle of the back line was necessitated and with five out of the seven who took to the field being under twenty years of age, this was possibly the youngest back line to represent the club at this level.
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RAIDERS 'A's 43 v 25 RICHMOND SAXONS

On Saturday the Raiders 'A's took to the field for their fixture against Richmond Saxons, an important game in this season’s campaign. The 'A's had only lost one league match thus far and that was to their opponents. Richmond always provide strong opposition and over the past twelve months it had been honours even, with the last two fixtures between the sides being decided by a single point, one win each.

The game started well for the 'A's and they crossed the line for their first try before the first break in play. Cameron Roberts ran onto a clever cross field kick from Ollie Luke and sprinted to cross the line in the corner. Richmond fought back strongly and soon crossed the home side’s line to level the score at five all. It appeared that, as with the two most recent encounters between the sides, this was going to be another tight affair. Over the next few minutes the game was keenly contested and an exchange of penalties saw the score move on to eight all. The 'A's began to get the upper hand as their defence held the visitors attacks at bay and put them under sufficient pressure to cause them to turn over ball. First Cameron Roberts and then Jack Emerson were able take advantage of this to increase Worthing’s lead, the second row doing well to sprint from half way to out run the Richmond cover and cross for the third try. Richmond were only able to add a further penalty in reply and the A's went in at half time ahead by twenty-two points to eleven.
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Tonbridge Juddians 20 v 32 Raiders A’s

The Raiders A’s were back in league action this week after their fixture against Barnes was cancelled the previous week due to the snow. With a much changed side due to unavailability and injury, plus five of the A’s regular starters joining the Raiders squad for the game against Chinnor, the A’s knew this was not going to be as easy as their previous encounter against Tonbridge earlier in the season.

The game started badly for the A’s, as only 1.5 minutes into the fixture, they lost centre Will Harris with a broken knee. The A’s started very slowly showing their lack of game time. Barnie Lyons taking over the kicking duties put the A’s on the scoreboard in the third minute with the first of his twelve points. This penalty was soon followed by the home side’s first try to take the score in the eighth minute to 5 - 3. Throughout the first forty minutes the A’s could not get going and by half time the score was 13 -13 with the home side looking the most likely to win the fixture. more...

CANTERBURY II 3 v 44 RAIDERS A's

On Saturday the Raiders A's took to the field for the first time in 2013 for an away game against league opposition Canterbury 2nds. The team got off to a flying start as Matt Dickens crossed the Canterbury line inside the first two minutes for the first of seven Worthing trys which was expertly converted from wide out by debutant Ludi Hopkins. (0 – 7) From this point the A's, not having played for five weeks, did show signs of rustiness and for the next twenty minutes just could not find their stride. During this period however, one area of play which did stand out was their excellent defensive play. The A's have worked hard on their defence and are looking to maintain their high standards for the remainder of the season. With a quarter of the game gone, the only change in the score was that the two sides had exchanged penalties. (3 – 10) Then came a 12 minute passage of play where the A's slipped into gear and put their mark on the game. Building on their solid defensive display they started to dominate play at the break down with captain for the day Jon Whittall and Sam Hewick, who was returning from injury, causing Canterbury problems at the ruck and turning ball over. It was from one of these turn overs that Worthing scored the first of their four tries before the break. Continuing to exert pressure, the A’s took their four trys through Ludi Hopkinson, Elliot Luke and two from speedster Cameron Roberts to end the half thirty one points ahead. (3 – 34) more...

Raiders A’s 23 v 8 Barnes 2nds

The Raiders A’s returned to league action this week against top of the table Barnes 2nds who so far had beaten anything put in front of them this season.

The A’s started poorly not getting into their stride or playing the Raiders brand of rugby for at least 20 minutes of the game and were lucky to only be 8 - 0. The turning point was a textbook tackle from centre Paul Dunkley, deep in his twenty-two, to cause a turn over. This seemed to wake the home team up and they started to play like a Raiders side. more...

Raiders A’s 56 v Hammersmith and Fulham 7

The A’s took to the field this week in front of an encouraging crowd which seems to be growing every week and is very much appreciated by all the lads. The A’s were determined to return to winning ways after their heroic efforts last week away at Richmond. It was evident from their attitude and the intensity of their warm up that the lads were in great shape and ready for the job in hand. The A’s started well and after 3 early penalties were 9 to 0 up. It was Hammersmith and Fulham that were to score next with a try on the quarter of the hour taking the score to 9 to 7 to the A’s.

We did not see another score until the 29th minute when Will Harris, home from the British Army, made an interception try in the Hammersmith twenty-two to score under the posts. This was quickly followed by trys from Jon Whittall and the try of the match from young Cameron Roberts.

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Richmond Saxons 22 v Raiders A’s 21

The Raiders A’s travelled to Richmond knowing that their opponents would be desperate to win this fixture having been beaten by the A’s at the two previous meetings. This was to be a hard fought encounter with both squads almost at full strength. By half time there was nothing between the two sides - the A’s had a slight lead of 13 to 12. Unfortunately, the second half did not go our way despite an outstanding effort from each and every one of them. They were a credit to Worthing Rugby Club and should be immensely proud of themselves. They showed great discipline, their defence was organised and solid and in attack they always looked dangerous. Paul Loader said, “ I am so proud of what the lads have been able to achieve. We have been together for just over two years and they have worked tirelessly over this time and got better with every game.” It was good to see the return of Paul Dunkley after breaking his ankle in the warm up for the Raiders Richmond away fixture at the end of last season.

The A’s are in league action again next week at home to Hammersmith and Fulham with a 15:00 kick off - we would love to see you there.

1. Jeremy Smith, 2. Elliot Luke, 3. Ben Henderson, 4. Charlie Watts, 5. Jack Emmerson, 6. Chris Sewell,7. Jon Whittall, 8. Jo Heaver,

9. Jack Metters,10. Paul Dunkley, 11. Will Harris, 12. Darren Clayton, 13. Greg Sullivan, 14. Barny Lyons, 15. Lewis Maslen,

16. Connor Leeding, 17. Harry Short, 18. Alex Addams, 19. Bobby Bland, 20. Cameron Roberts.

Worthing Raiders A 62 v Tonbridge Juddians 10

The Raiders ‘A's took to the field on Saturday looking to preserve their 100% league record, a task they achieved with a strong showing against Tonbridge Juddians 2nd XV.

As in previous weeks, it was the opposition who scored first after the home side conceded an early penalty for off side at the break down. The ‘A’s took the lead with a try by Elliot Luke on eight Minutes and with three further trys in the half they went in at half time 26 – 3 ahead.

At halftime the focus was on quicker reorganisation when falling out of shape. In the second half the Raiders continued where they left off, taking their total to 62, with 6 more trys from Metters, Peach, Greenwood, Bland and two from Chris Sewell, making 6 in three games. This was a good win for the side with yet more changes following the late call up of Matt Farnes to the Raiders and Greg Sullivan picking up an injury in training on Thursday.

It was great to see both Paul Mills and Dave Davis playing again this week and both played their part in this impressive win with Double D helping himself to a well-deserved try in the first half. One of the performances of the day must go Lewis Maslen, confidently controlling the back three from fullback.

Having played them in a friendly two weeks ago, the ‘A's face Richmond away next week but this time for league honours. This will be a very tough encounter and they will need to be at their best if they are to bring the points home.

1.Paul Mills, 2. Elliot Luke, 3. Connor Leeding, 4. Charlie Watts, 5. Alex Adams, 6. Dave Davis, 7. Harry Short, 8. Chris Sewell, 9. Jack Metters, 10. Ollie Luke,

11. Bobby Bland, 12. Ian Greenwood, 13. Barney Lyons, 14. Adam Fastnedge, 15. Lewis Maslen, 16. Dan Peach, 17. Jon Roberts, 18. Kristian Knudsen