JORDAN REYNOLDS says it would be wrong to ‘get ahead of ourselves’ after a defensive display saw Raiders hold Westcombe Park at bay and in registering a third straight win in National Three London and South East.

‘’We we will be trying to build on this but we must not get ahead of ourselves,’ he said.
‘Westcombe Park are definitely going to be top three or four this season so to get that win will give us a lot of confidence off the back of that,’ he added.

Raiders' 12-10 victory might have been a tad more convincing but for two missed penalty attempts in the last quarter of the game, but by then they had lost regular kicker Owen Thomas to a shoulder/neck injury - not too serious - and six points to ease the nerves went begging.

All Raiders' points came in the first period via tries from Adam Nixon and Luke Jones, the second of which was converted by Thomas. The points came after a strong start by Westcombe who were soon ahead via a penalty.

But Raiders then took control of proceedings and although Thomas missed an early penalty to level Jordan reynolds' men were soon ahead, Nixon nipping over after a move through the forwards and the backs.

The visitors then extended their lead through another well-worked move which saw newcomer Kenny Hellier moving up from full back and feed Jones to score another try, this one converted by Thomas.

It was 12-3 at the break but Westcombe Park came out for the second period all guns blazing and it required Raiders to dig deep both in character and defensive strength to hold them at bay. The loss of their fly-half Thomas was a blow and it was while Raiders were trying to reorganise that the home side scored a converted try under the posts.
‘I can’t see too many beating them at home and they threw everything at us,’ said a delighted coach. ‘I thought the defence was really good and we have been working hard on that in training.’

He said everybody, 1 to 15, was a star, be he was also encouraged by the performance of debutant Kenny Hellier. ‘He made a couple of breaks and he’s got a lot of potential.’

Back at Footes lane, the Ladies racked up another big win, scoring eight tries in a 42-5 thumping of Barnes. Vicky Rang and Lauren Finch each scored two tries.