Match Preview

EXTRA DOLLOP OF RICE

A WEEK after his big brother turned in a star defensive performance at Barnes, another Rice with strong south-west London connections joins the Raiders starting team for Saturday’s late afternoon clash with unbeaten Henley Hawks.

Dan Rice, who developed his rugby at St Mary’s University along the road near Twickenham, comes in at stand off for the injured Owen Thomas in an otherwise unchanged team.

Head Coach Jordan Reynolds said he has every faith in the younger of the Rice brothers who came through the Guernsey Academy system. ‘He has a good skill-set and we would have put him in earlier, but for Dan catching Covid early in the season.

Kicking is a strong point of Dan’s game and we all hope he will get plenty of chance to shine via the conversion cone, although Henley will be hard to prise open. They have shown very good form already this season and the coach understand they are one side who are aiming for National One next season.

The only other changes to the group who take on Luke Allen’s squad see Darrin Bellingham and Charlie Davies return on the bench and inclusion, also, of Lucas Barker.

The two clubs last met in December 2018 and the Henley-on-Thames based outfit will also be bringing their Bulls side over to take on St Jacques.

Although lying ninth in the division, the hawks have two matches in hand on most of the teams above them.

The game kicks off at 3.45pm with the Vikings taking on the Hawks’ 2nd XV at 5:30pm.

Raiders Teams:
Sam Steventon, Tom Ceillam, Jacob Pinkney, Lewis Hillier, Brad Webb, Oscar Baird, Dom Rice, Doug Horrocks, Charlie Simmons, Dan Rice, Callum Roberts, Ethan Smith, Matt Armstrong, Anthony Armstrong, Joe Andresen. Replacements: Charlie Currie, Darrin Bellingham, Tom Creed, Lucas Barker, Charlie Davies.