Worthing Raiders get another bonus point victory

This week’s opponent was Canterbury, a club we’ve played over twenty times in National League rugby. This was their eleventh visit to Roundstone Lane.

For once this season selection had been a little easier with players returning from injury plus the added bonus of three new signings being available. The squad had six changes from the previous week. There were National League debuts for Jonny Smith, Tom Bowen, Fergus Guiry and Zach Carr. Fraser Bruce and Iago Davies returned to the squad after injury and unavailability respectively.

The afternoon was dry and for the most part sunny and the pitch was made for a fast, open game.

Canterbury kicked off defending the southern end of the ground. The crowd of near five hundred were hoping for an open, exciting game and basically that is what they got.

A couple of early penalties against the visitors gave the home side a chance to dominate territory and possession and after nine minutes Raiders were rewarded when they opened their account with a converted try. From a lineout Frank Taggart drove the ball up the middle of the field, from the ruck that formed the ball was moved to the backs and Fergus Guiry stepped past the final defender to score under the posts. Harrison Sims converted and the home side had an early 7-0 lead.

Within a couple of minutes Canterbury were awarded a penalty within kicking distance and they took the opportunity to close the gap to 7-3.