THE PERFECT XMAS PRESENT

THE PERFECT XMAS PRESENT

Sutton & Epsom 19
Raiders 43

THERE were some worrying moments, but ultimately the league leaders’ power and overall quality told against a side struggling with injuries.
The upshot - and it is a big and important one - we lead the London & South East Premier table going into Christmas and the New Year. Happy days.

With Hertford also winning well it required a bonus-try victory to stay clear at the top, but that was far from being on anyone’s mind in a tight first half which at one point Raiders were down to 13 after two yellows.
But restored to 15 for the second period - for a while anyway - Raiders turned it on to pull away and win well.

Back to the start.
Within two minutes of the first whistle and in their very first attack Ned Brown, who had a stunning game, broke through the S&E back line to slip the ball to Owen Thomas who ran unopposed to touch down under the posts.
He also converted and we were ahead 7-0.
S&E battled back though and in putting the Raiders defence under pressure the referee adjudged they had deliberately brought down a driving maul and skipper Lewis Hillier paid the price with a yellow card.
Raiders worries got even worse when just after 15 minutes and with Hillier halfway through his enforced rest, full back Sam Whitehead joined his captain on the sidelines.
Yet even down to 13 men Raiders’ defence was able to control the S&E attack and eventually got back on the attack themselves.
And there was good news for the visitors when the referee dispensed another yellow card, this time to an S&E forward.
The resulting penalty kick was slotted over the posts by Thomas and the lead was up to 10-0.

Then S&E hit back.
A brilliant catch in the air by the home winger got his team away and they scored a fine try which was converted.
Raiders responded well though and force the home team to concede further penalties and from a catch and drive Kyle Brown sniped around the blindside and unselfishly passed the ball to the flying Anthony Armstrong for an easy finish,
Thomas converted and we were 17-7 up at the break.
When the game resumed Raiders started to up the pace and another S&E infringement allowed the visitors to go for a controlled catch and drive.
It worked perfectly and with the pack driving forward Tom Ceillam came up from the pile of bodies having scored. Owen converted and it was 24-7.
But almost immediately Hillier received his second yellow card and was off for the rest of the match.

We were down to 14 men for the rest of the game and midway through the half Raiders conceded a try when the home side pounced on a knock-on by Raiders to score a converted try: 14-24 and game far from over bearing in mind the numerical disadvantage Raiders now found themselves in.
But the response was brilliant.
Raiders regrouped and turned on the power to score three tries in 20 minutes.
Firstly Dan Hill drove his way over the line and again Thomas converted.
Nick Merrien, with the help of his pack, then forced his way over the line and Thomas continued his perfect kicking display: 14-38.
Raiders, though, saved their best to last.
The backs shipped the ball put to Antony Armstrong who somehow managed to dive for the corner and get the ball down, even with two S&E players driving him over the touchline.
Just for once, Thomas missed the kick but we had passed 40 points.

There was still time for a consolation try for the home side after a brilliant double tackle on the S&E centre by the Raiders backs resulted in the ball dropping to the floor and opened up a gap.
But the try did not hurt and with the conversion missed it finished 19-43.
That’s it now until 6 January when Raiders entertain a good Tunbridge Wells side with kick-off at 2:00pm.

Raiders team
Steventon, Ceillam, L. Batiste, Hillier, Merrien, Hill, Martin, Horrocks, K. Brown, Thomas, Armstrong, Campbell, N. Brown, Jones, Whitehead. Replacements: Currie, Skovronek, Holland.