BOY THAT WAS TOUGH

SURRENDERING top spot in London & SE Premier was a minor disappointment, but you can’t expected bonus-point victories every week, especially when the opposition is as tough and challenging as Hertford.
Raiders have consistently had trouble with Saturday’s opponents, but after an exhausting 80 minutes plus action in front of a Garenne Stand on Ladies Day, many of those ladies’ impeccably manicured nails had been chewed away.
It was that sort of game and was always likely to be head coach Jordan Reynolds admitted.
‘It was always going to be tough, but our six changes made for a good defensive effort.
‘Coming off losing to Hertford twice last year we were perhaps a little bit on the cautious side.
‘But we stepped up to the level I think we can play at, but it was a very hard slog for us.’

Raiders had to be up for this one or they would be made to pay and right from the first whistle they brought their A-game to the table.
This was never going to be a festival of free-flowing rugby though.
Every advantage had to be quarried out with sheer effort, but it might have been a bit easier for the Raiders had the referee not allowed the visitors to consistently get away with pulling down the rolling maul with a try beckoning.
The Raiders coach was frustrated with Hertford’s tactics but was reluctant to criticise the referee.
‘The ref’s got a really tough job to do and I certainly wouldn’t like to do it.
‘But when we had such a positive drive going on, 4 or 5 times, we didn’t get any reward for it.’
The one time they managed to force it all the way to the line midway through the first half brought the first try via our human slice of Guernsey granite, Tom Ceillam.
By then Owen Thomas had already given Raiders the lead with a seventh-minute penalty when Hertford, for the first of several times in the match, were down to 14.
Sean Taylor soon levelled matters with a penalty and after Ceillam’s try the same man reduced the deficit to 8-6 with his second penalty, although there was still time for a third yellow card before half-time for a deliberate knock on.
After the break, Taylor nudged his side ahead with his third successful kick, only for Thomas to reply to put Raiders ahead by two.
Hertford then got ahead when the substitute winger Lemon took advantage of an unfortunate collision between two Guernsey players and touched down between the posts.
Taylor’s conversion gave the visitors a five-point lead while Guernsey were forced into a reshuffle.
By now both Luke Jones and Luke Sayer were off injured, so Douglas Horrocks became an emergency winger.
Is their no end to his versatility?

Thomas narrowed the gap to two points with his third penalty which had resulted in the fourth yellow of the afternoon, before Raiders came up with an outstanding team try to regain the lead.
Thomas’ excellent long kick put them into the Hertford half and after working through the phases Malcolm Barnes spotted a small gap to power his way to the line.
Thomas converted and moments later, crucially, he slotted over a sweetly-struck drop goal to give his side an eight-point cushion that effectively sealed it.
Ben Creasey’s late burrowing try was just a consolation.

Back in the UK, Sidcup were registering another bonus-point success to take top spot by a single point from Raiders who now head to Dorking who shipped 64 points away at Barnes.
It’s certainly hotting up at the top of the table with Tring also with a 100% record, while Westcliff and Barnes look threatening just behind and - of course - Hertford cannot be counted out.
As the Raiders coach and players will be happy to tell you, they are are a tough and classy unit.

TEAMS

Guernsey Raiders: Steventon, Ceillam, Currie, Hillier, Merrien, Hill, Le Cocq, Horrocks, Barnes, Thomas, Campbell, N. Brown, Armstrong, Jones, Sayer.
Replacements: Craine, Skovronek, K. Brown.

Hertford: Castiglione, Ellis, Prince, Perks, Archer, Jaonnou, Cain, Macdougall, Creasey, Lloyd, Streets, Smart, Allan, Mitchell, Taylor. Replacements: Morgan, Matthews, Lemon.

Footnote: Luke Sayer is expected to be out for at least three weeks with a torn calf, but the news is better re Luke Jones who got a bang on the head in the second half and was taken off as a precaution. He seems perfectly fine and should be OK for this week’s away game.

SADLY, our Ladies were unable to pull off their own win in the warm-up for Saturday’s main course.
Guildford Gazelles simply had too much pace and organisation for our new-look team who are still finding their feet at Championship 2 SW level.
Guildford went home with 37 unanswered points under their belts and a bonus-point win, while for our girls it is back to hard work on the training field.

However, there were still many positives to take away. Captain of the day, Vicki Rang looked menacing on attack when the ball made it out wide to her and once the team finds their feet she could be a real talent of the season. Newly married Chelsie Blondel also put in a solid performance in the midfield, both on attack and defense.
This was only the second game that the Guernsey Ladies have played under the full scrum laws (allowed to push more than 1.5m) and they managed to make life difficult for Guildford at scrum time and looks like this aspect will develop into a strong part of their game as the season progresses.

The Ladies next play away to Reading Abbey Ladies on Sunday 8th October. Reading Abbey are currently the league leaders