MUD, NOT SO GLORIOUS MUD!

IT MADE for good pictures and Layton has been attracting some comments with his new line in face make-up.
But the only thing that mattered from Raiders’ first trip to Sevenoaks RFC is that they emerged from a real mudbath with a seventh London & South East Premier win.
But with no bonus point secured at the soaked and sodden Paddock they lost more ground on Wimbledon and Rochford Hundred.
Head coach Jordan Reynolds was, though, just glad to get the win in awful conditions against a side that had their tails up after a great win away at Hertford the previous week.

The ‘Oaks’ Head Coach Adam Bowman described that effort as their most ‘mature performance of the season’.
‘I thought our game management was excellent. We started well and were focused throughout which is what you need to do if you are to compete at this level,’ said Bowman who plotted to spring a surprise on Guernsey as they visited Sevenoaks HQ for the very first time.
Coming into the game Bowman reminded Oaks devotees that he had told them before the season started ‘it would take us time to settle at the new level’ but now they had and the Hertford result proved that.
One thing he won’t have been able to predict though was the conditions for Guernsey’s visit.
They were bad.
Very bad.
Had the downpours arrived a couple of hours before it is very doubtful the game would have gone ahead.
'I've never seen a pitch that bad and I've seen some poor ones in my 15 years over here,' said Reynolds who watched his men establish a vital 17-3 lead by the break and then hang on.
'The weather was a real leveller and they threw everything at us,' added Reynolds.
‘It was a tough old game in appalling conditions,’ said our coach who had been forced into a couple of late changes to the line-up with Asher Veamatahau’s hamstring playing up at Thursday night training and Taylor Quate also going crook.
But one man to benefit from those injuries was Chris Ahne who came into the side and scored one of the three first half tries.
Top scorer Anthony Armstrong helped himself to two more tries and he also played a hand in Ahne’s score.
Owen Thomas managed one conversion.
‘We stuck to our task and we got our three tries when the pitch was still in decent condition.
‘But in the second half it became difficult to even recognise which players were which.
‘We controlled the ball pretty well in the first half and Sevenoaks kicked away endless amounts of possession.
‘All the rugby was going to be played in the first half because the pitch wasn’t going to last more than 20 minutes.
‘We tried to get the bonus point but it was out of our control really.
‘We had two catch and drive moves pulled down a metre short of the line and I know I might be accused of bias but I think there was an infringement there,’ said a somewhat frustrated Reynolds.
On the plus side, Raiders remain third in the table, now well clear of fourth place and with fond recollections of possibly the worst conditions they will ever play in.