It was another great evening for rugby union on Friday. The top two teams set to compete again after three weeks and it was bound to be a tight struggle.

There were a few changes in the Raiders Under 16 team which had everything to play for against Wanderers.

The Wanderers started well and looked like they were going to take control as they pressured the Raiders for the first 12 minutes. The Raiders relieved the pressure with a push up the field which ended in a line out just outside the Wanderers' 22m.

The lineout was good and a quick ball to the backs saw a drive up the middle and press down the left where they were bundled out. The Raiders had a sniff of the line now and kept pushing with Ben (14)) going over on the left side for the first try. This guy has some wheels! The kick missed, but Raiders were up 5-0.

Wanderers surged back from the kick off, but good defence from the Raiders kept their line intact. The Raiders again marched up the field and a great try off a scrum on the left side by Aiden (8) resulted. The kick was missed again, but the try took the lead to 10-0.

The Wanderers showed their mettle again and patiently worked their way with good picking and driving to score in the far right corner just on half time. They missed the kick and the score at the half was 10-5.

Wanderers started well again after the break, but it was not going to be easy. They were working down the left side only to have a pass intercepted and the Raiders were suddenly attacking.

The ball was knocked on so the Raiders lost out here. The Wanderers kept probing, but the Raiders kept their defence strong which has become a great asset this season. Port pushed out of their 22 with a chip which the Wanderers No 14 collected and was off like a shot.

What a good run he had, but he was brought down back where Port had started. They managed to turn the ball over here and this ended in the third try for the Raiders and the second for Ben. The kick this time was good so 17-5 was the score. A more comfortable score line, but a way to go yet.
 
Port worked away down to the Wanderers' 22m again and another good lineout from them here saw Aiden (11) punch through a gap and cut back left to put Chase Lee (playing 15 by now) over on the left of the posts. The Raiders missed the kick again for a 22-5 lead on 25 minutes.

Raiders' replacement 10 (Shaun) came off with a suspect hamstring and Aiden went in to play 10 from the wing.

The Wanderers tried to come back, but the Raiders defence proved solid again. A penalty gained in the midfield for Port saw a good clearance kick down to the Wanderers 22m again. They lost the lineout, but shut down the Wanderers' clearance to get the put in on a 5m scrum.  

From the scrum the Raiders worked down and went over in the far right corner. The kick was missed again, but put the score at 27-5, well in front. The Wanderers didn’t look like scoring again and the referee blew his final whistle.