RAIDERS KEEP UP THE PRESSURE

RAIDERS stay second in the London & SE Premier table after a clinical bonus-point win at Westcombe Park and, vitally, they managed to do it without picking up any knocks with the big Tring game looming this weekend.
Head coach Jordan Reynolds was pleased with the performance, specifically the second half showing when his side scored 27 points to add to a 12-3 interval lead.
‘Our boys looked really tired, but in the second half they really got it together.
‘Dougie said a few strong things at half time but went out afterwards and put his money where his mouth is and led from the front and played a stormer,’ the coach added.
Raiders started the game by giving away two penalties in quick succession Combe kicked for goal on both occasions, missing one and converting the other for a 3-0 lead.
But the visitors kept their composure and within 10 minutes a line out steal by Nick Merrien got his colleagues on the attack for Luke Sayer to score in the corner, Owen Thomas converting.

Raiders were sluggish and far from fluent and to make matters worse Lewis Hillier was yellow carded for pulling down a maul.
At times Raiders attacked well, but with little effect as further handling mistakes stalled their flow of play.
But with the half drawing to a close Raiders powered their way up the park for Layton Batiste to drive over for his second try in two games.
Although the conversion was missed we led by nine at the break and there was something to build upon.

For the start of the second half Raiders introduced Malcolm Banes and Cameron Crane and the team immediately upped the tempo.
A Combe penalty concession in front of their posts was an easy kick for Owen and he made it easy enough for 15-3.
Then, from the following kick off, the visiting backs combined and the powerful Ned Brown broke through the Combe defence on halfway and ran clear to score under the posts.
With Owen’s conversion we led 22-3.

Raiders continued to up the pace and with Combe kicking to relieve the pressure the green-and-whites’ forwards drove forward for the backs to slip the ball to Luke Sayer to score his second of the game.
Combe got a try back to make it 8-27 but Raiders immediately responded by driving their way down the park with Tom Ceillam powering his way over the line for a well earned score.
Thomas missed the kick but when Combe were forced to touch down behind their line for a Raiders scrum, a sixth try was not far away.
Barnes combined well with Horrocks and the former cruised over the line as the Combe backs opened up like Moses and the Red Sea.
Thomas converted to complete the scoring.

It's now 10 wins out of 12 for Jordan Reynolds men who sit just three points off top spot held by Hertford, who they have already beaten of course.
'Touch wood, everyone seems to have come through OK and on top of that we will have Sam [Whitehead] and Dale [Martin] back this week,’ said an upbeat head coach.
'We were also able to give two of our front row 40 minutes rest and Malcolm [Barnes] only got 20, so we should be fresh.
'The first half was a bit of a struggle and compared to the week before, a lot of times we were forcing the last passes and losing ball.
'In the second half we managed to fix that, which is fantastic.'
Reynolds was particularly pleased with the way his side got back to attacking from their own 20m line and two-try Luke Sayer was looking dangerous.
'Luke had a really good game; he and Ned [Brown] had good games out wide.'