Worthing Raiders' title hopes hurt by Hinckley

Worthing Raiders’ National two south title hopes took a major blow as they lost 31-26 at Hinckley.
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The final minutes saw Raiders play with great spirit and earn them two bonus points, but the result was very disappointing.

Raiders will need to win all their final five games and rely on leaders Esher slipping up.

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A number of changes had to be made in the squad this week, especially in the pack.

Raiders in action at Hinckley / Picture: Colin CoulsonRaiders in action at Hinckley / Picture: Colin Coulson
Raiders in action at Hinckley / Picture: Colin Coulson

Ken Dowding, Will Scholes, Elliott Quinton, Rhys Litterick and Tom Gwyther were missing and replaced by Fraser Bruce, Rob Smith, Rob Cuffe, Jon Whittall and, making his first team debut, George Manners.

The backs were unchanged.

On a hot, sunny day the scene was set for an open game of rugby.

Hinckley kicked off after Raiders won the toss and chose to play into the wind in the first half.

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The home side soon set up a good phase of attacking rugby deep in the visitors’ territory.

Good defence by Raiders caused Hinckley to spill the ball and Matt McLean was able to scoop it up and sprint 70m to score under the posts. He converted to make the score 0-7 after three minutes.

The home side were soon back on the attack and had the better of possession and territory.

But they were finding it difficult to break down the Raiders’ defence.

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Constant pressure from Hinckley eventually brought them a converted try, 7-7.

Elliott Luke received a yellow card and the home side looked as if they would capitalise on the one-man advantage but solid defence prevented a score.

Raiders created good attacking situations with the limited amount of ball they had.

With a quarter of the game gone the visitors almost had an interception try, were held up over the line and a sidestepping run from Jack Forrest was stopped a couple of metres from the line.

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But on 30 minutes the visitors scored their second try when Jack Forrest broke free in midfield and outpaced the defence to touch down.

With the conversion missed the visitors led 7-12.

With five minutes of the half left Hinckley broke down the Raiders’ defence to score an unconverted try, 12-12.

It had been a mixed half for the visitors.

They had defended really well for extended periods, they had scored two tries and created several more good chances but they had also made too many errors which prevented them from dominating their opponents.

For the start of the second half Jon Whittall replaced Luke. Raiders hoped for a fast start to the second half but within five minutes Rhys Morgan had been yellow carded and Hinckley had scored a converted try to lead 19-12.

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Cam Dobinson came on at scrum half and Kieran Leeming went to the bench.

With 15 minutes gone things got worse for the visitors when the home side scored a converted try after intercepting the ball in midfield, stretching their lead to 26-12.

Rob Smith replaced Frank Taggart and made an impact.

The visitors played good rugby in patches but errors at vital times prevented any scores at this stage.

Hinckley received a yellow card after 20 minutes of the half. Raiders almost scored in the 22nd minute but were held up over the try line. Nothing seemed to be going right for Raiders.

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Hinckley scored an unconverted try to extend their lead to 31-12.

It looked like the game had slipped away from the visitors.

Rob Cuffe replaced Jack Lake and Luke returned in place of Nathan Jibulu.

With a little more than ten minutes to play Raiders suddenly took charge by raising the tempo and playing error-free, fast, open rugby.

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Rob Smith burst through the first up defence and passed to Kemp Price, who had a clear run to the line to score under the posts. McLean converted with a drop kick and it was 31-19.

Raiders had renewed belief and were rewarded when Harrison Sims intercepted a Hinckley pass and sprinted away to touch down.

Again, to save time McLean drop kicked the conversion and the lead was five points.

The final minutes were frantic but Hinckley did a very good job of controlling the ball in the forwards and frustrated Raiders’ efforts until the referee blew for full time.

There is another big game at Roundstone Lane this Saturday when the Raiders host Redruth.

sussexworld.co.uk

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