by Darryl Kirk

The Port Douglas Under 12s Rugby Union team invited Barron Blue from Cairns to their house on Friday night in what turn out to be one of the best games for the young Raiders this season.

From the kick off the Raiders were out to show Barron what they are made of and stamped their authority on the game. Within the first five minutes the Raiders posted their first 5-pointer of the night courtesy of fancy foot work from Zac Osborne.

Osborne converted his try from out wide taking the score to 7-0. From the restart the Raiders went straight back to work applying pressure scoring an almost identical try. 10-0.

Barron’s big boys tried to spilt the Raiders' defence with some big runs up the middle but found it hard work with solid tackling from the forwards denying them any real advantage.

Ellusive scrum half Leith Malone was proving to be a real handful with his darting runs from around the fringes and he kept the opposition guessing all night.

Charlie Burns, playing # 8, had a blinder and with minutes left in the first half scored the Raiders third try from the set piece picking up from the base of the scrum and crashing over taking four defenders with him, Osborne converted and at half time the score was 19-0.

In the second half Barron came out firing and had the Raiders pinned in their own 22, but superb defence halted Barron and the Raiders settled back into their game plan.

With the backs seeing a lot more ball this week the large crowd were entertained with blistering runs from the speedsters out wide. Captain Xavian Pitt led the way and with support from Derek  Lecter, Caleb Ross, BJ Davies, Sean De Monk and with full back Lamar Enoch joining the attack Barron had no answer.

Tom Walker scored the Raiders' fourth try with a no nonsense run straight up the middle, and with Pitt scoring the fifth try and Osborne converting the final score was 31-0.

Coaches Todd Malone and Darryl Kirk  were full of praise and are pleased the way the team are adapting to the game of Rugby Union, playing smart and at their pace, they awarded the Port Putt Putt  Man of the Match to Charlie Burns and Tom Walker for their tireless efforts all night.