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Shelford 27 Raiders 25

Shelford 27 Raiders 25

Alexandra Wallace14 Nov 2015 - 19:29
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RAIDERS’ away form and discipline cost them again in a tight National Three London & South East game in Cambridgeshire.

RAIDERS’ away form and discipline cost them again in a tight National Three London & South East game in Cambridgeshire.

It was a brave fight back from the lads who were 21-10 down at the break, but it came to nothing more than a brave consolation bonus point as the home fly-half kicked the decisive penalty late on and, with Hertford also defeating Tonbridge Juddian, knocked Raiders back two places in the table to seventh spot.

In windy and wet conditions which suited 10-man rugby, but not Raiders' style of attacking rugby, Shelford took advantage of a strong wind at their backs to lead by 11 at the break.

Owen Thomas has kicked an early penalty to give Raiders a 3-0 lead but shortly after No. 8 Matt Thomas picked up a yellow card and during his 10 minutes on the side-line, the home side went over twice in the space of a couple of minutes.

The first try emanated from a five-metre scrum and then Andrew Scott added a second converted score to leave Raiders chasing the game at 3-14 down.

With Matt Thomas back on the pitch, Raiders hit back with a catch and drive score with Thomas the scorer, but just short of half-time and with Ned Brown in the sin-bin Tom Ransom scored the home side's third try, again converted by the excellent stand-off Josh Simmons, for a good half-time advantage.

The strength of the wind gave Raiders hope of turning it around in the second half and they did just that, Owen Thomas slotting over five penalties to put the visitors in front at 22-21.

A Simmons penalty put Shelford back in front, but then Thomas slotted over his sixth three-pointer of the afternoon for a 25-24 lead with just five minutes to go.

But with just three minutes remaining, Shelford forced a penalty and from close range Simmons kicked the points to send Raiders to their fourth loss in nine games.

TEAM:
Cameron Craine, Tom Ceillam, Layton Batiste, Nick Merrien, Lewis Hillier, Eamon Chapman, Robin Le Cocq, Matt Thomas; Malcolm Barnes, Owen Thomas, Luke Sayer, Blair Campbell (captain), Ned Brown, Dave Davison, Glen Walters.
Replacements: Thomas Malagodi, Leon Gardner and Adam Nixon.

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