ARMSTRONG TO THE RESCUE

AT 6ft 5in tall with a stride length of an Olympic 400m runner, Anthony Armstrong at full speed is quite a sight.
And from his full-back role Armstrong saved the day at Tunbridge Wells’ St Mark’s Recreation Ground, where in the dying moments the Raiders trailed by three points in an exciting game.
But sustained pressure worked an opening for the visitors and the full-back dived in for his second try of the game and despite Owen Thomas missing the kick Raiders had snatched the full five points, a result which keeps them top of the London & SE Premier division with Sidcup, now the only other side with maximum points from three games.

Jordan Reynolds’ side would have expected nothing less than a win after a rampaging start which had them 14-0 ahead in no time, Douglas Horrocks twice barging over the line.
On the second of those occasions Tunbridge Wells were down to 14 and when back up to numbers were quick to hit back, Doherty, Webster and Dagnall scoring tries which gave them a 17-14 advantage.
A penalty kick by Tunbridge Wells extended the lead to 20-14 but on the verge of half time Armstrong raced clear to score an unconverted try for a 21-20 interval lead.
In the second half Owen Thomas’ penalty made it 24-20 and after Tunbridge responded with a converted scored for 27-24 lead, Raiders went back ahead with a penalty try converted by Thomas.
Sallie then had his say with a converted score that Tunbridge hoped would give them the win, but at 31-34 down Armstrong struck again on a day when Ned Brown celebrated his 50th match in a Raiders shirt with a key win with a big game at home to Hertford looming.
'They are a pretty good side to be fair and sides will struggle to win at Tunbridge,' said head coach Jordan Reynolds later.
'But in the last eight or nine minutes we were in their half the whole time and the try came after we had a lot of phases,' he added.
It still required the long-striding Armstrong to beat two or three defenders to get the ball down in the corner and his coach was pleased with his efforts on the day and what he brings to the squad.
'I thought he did really well at full-back and he almost scored a third try.’
'For 15 to 20 minutes we played some really good rugby, the rest some of the poorest we have played.
'We started making mistakes and giving away silly penalties.
'When they scored a couple of times we were pretty shell-shocked.'
Not for the first time this season the pack, even without resting skipper Lewis Hillier, were dominant and Reynolds thought that they should have been awarded more penalties at the scrum down.
'But I can't see too many teams going there and winning. Last year we would have lost a game like that.'
The coach was, after all, able to name Malcolm Barnes in his starting line-up, the New Zealander having flown back to the UK overnight from Sierre Leone where he had been for the week on work business.
Also, fly-half Owen Thomas came through unscathed after missing the previous game with a calf strain.
Layton Batiste collected a dead leg which makes him a slight doubt for this week's big game at home to Hertford, but Reynolds does not believe the injury to be too serious and, anyway, he has plenty of cover in the form of new-boy Charlie Currie, Hillier returning and, also Robin Le Cocq being available again.

Photo credit: Sports Images (Twitter @liammac_uk)