WEEKEND DOUBLE

A NINTH straight win for the Raiders and a first of the campaign for the Ladies.
What a weekend.
The only thing missing was bright sunshine and some warmth, instead we got plenty of low cloud, mist and lots of drizzle.
In soggy Southend our London & SE Premier table-toppers gave us a bit of us scare when they soon fell 0-12 behind.
But, back here, what we didn’t know was that Southend had won the choice of ends and gone for broke by playing with the strong wind at their backs.
Raiders knew what was coming and after the loss of two early tries they got it back to 10-15 by the break and then romped away with it, running in seven tries.
‘To be fair it was probably a 20-point wind,’ said the Raiders coach Jordan Reynolds.
It was a bonus point victory that keeps the Guernsey side six points clear of the leading chasers - Barnes and Tring.
‘We played some sublime rugby in the second half. They were tough conditions.’
‘We had to put Anthony Armstrong in at 13 after Luke Jones had to go off with a cut lip, but he played really well there, which is encouraging.
Luke Sayer scored Raiders’ two first half tries from the wing and in the second half there were further scores from fly half Owen Thomas (two), Sam Whitehead, Armstrong and Douglas Horrocks.
Thomas finished the afternoon with 21 points to his name after adding a penalty and four conversions.

Raiders aim to make it 10 wins on the bounce when they play mid-table Sidcup at Footes Lane next Saturday when St Jacques Vikings are also in action in a Footes Lane double-header all nicely packaged as ‘Past & Present Players Day’.
For those wanting to take part in this special deal, tickets are £7 and include entry to the Garenne Stand for both games, after match meal with the current Raiders team and musical entertainment. Raiders kick off at 3pm, followed by the St Jacques Vikings at 5pm.
For catering purposes, please RSVP to kat_daunt@hotmail.co.uk or phone 07839202397 by 31st January.

THE Ladies have had a miserable time of it this season at Championship Two South West level, but they are finally off the mark after running in four tries against a Teddington side that put 60-plus points on them in London.
‘I’m very, very pleased and although it was pretty tight to start with, we had them in the scrum and in the set pieces,’ said our award winning coach, Chris Griffiths.
The game was 20 minutes in when Guernsey’s big territorial dominance was rewarded with a first try courtesy of Tanya Scholtz. Jemma Crouse added the extras from close range but they were soon pegged them back with an unconverted try for the visitors.
On 37min. Vicky Rang scored a second Guernsey try and we led 12-5 at the break.
Early in the second young Lucy Pratt came to the rescue after the visiting scrum half had raced 90m ahead and was pinned by Pratt’s saving touchline tackle 10m from the line.
Soon after, Guernsey scored their third try of the afternoon, Scholtz powering in from close range.
Crouse added the icing on the cake with a touchdown after Guernsey’s pack had again got a big shove on from which the outstanding Rachel Merrien broke away and fed her captain who sidestepped her way into space and was away to score.