by Mark Letcher

Word has had it that Wanderers were the team to beat this season, but the Raiders have become serious contenders with the 3-1 record they have to date before this game.

With the season being short every game counts and this was going to be a good contest. As I said last week, I was relishing the game.

So the Raiders were ready for the city boys again and up for the task. What a game it turned into, a fast, bruising battle - excellent to watch again.

Skipper Aiden Chesterfield was fired up and marshalled the boys for the start and led the rest of the game from the front. An outstanding performance from him with good hard “stop me if you can” runs.

The rest were not far behind him and this proved vital as the game progressed.

Wanderers scored first after about 7 minutes taking the scoreboard to 5-0. The Raiders were having some trouble in the scrums to start with.

Then the first of two of the Raiders' scintillating tries. Big No 18 received the ball from loose play, drew and passed to Ben (14) who shot up the 15m from 10m out of his 22 angling across towards the 5m approaching the halfway.

Aiden Alberts looked like he was going to scissor inside but stayed out and Ben drew the defender and put Aiden into space down the line channel. He still had 50m to go and breezed off down towards the line.

He’s quick so was hard to catch and timed his last step really well to finish off over the line about 10m across from the posts.  A formality kick really, but Brendan pulled it for a 5-5 score.

The Raiders kept the pressure on and Wanderers looked a little shell shocked. Wanderers took a 22m drop out which Raiders secured and Ben scooted off to score on the left side. Brendan made no mistake with this one. 12- 5.

Wanderers were still reeling and lost ground to a resurgent Raiders. A ruck close to the Wanderers' line and Aiden Chesterfield picked it up and wrestled his way over. Brendan pinned the kick to make it 19-5.

Wanderers fought back just before half time to score a converted try to make it 19-12 at half time.

Wanderers had a good chat at half time and tightened the game up and looked to start making some inroads. They had good interplay driving up the field and had the Raiders' defence scattered.

Aiden Alberts was pinged for a deliberate knock down which saw him sent off for 10 minutes. Raiders dug in, one player short, and Aiden Chesterfield broke from a scrum close to his line and had an excellent run up to the half way line.

This surge was short lived and Wanderers worked their way back to score 10 minutes in from the half. They missed the kick. 19-17 Raiders.

Raiders lost Ben for 10 minutes for shoulder charging - unnecessary stuff and that built pressure on the team who were down to 13 players.
 
A good restart saw a scuffle for the ball just over the 10m line. Wanderers' No 3 was sent off for shoulder charging. A kickable penalty was missed by Brendan.

Wanderers took advantage of this and continued their good play up the field and ended with a try for them 20 minutes in. Raiders fought well, but some poor tackling up the left side saw Wanderers score. They missed the kick again for the lead 22-19.
 
The restart was a good hanging kick which Wanderers knocked on resulting in a Raiders scrum. The second excellent try started with a solid scrum, quick channel one ball which saw Brendan with some space.

He passed to Chase Lee in a gap which broke the advantage line, he fed to Aiden Alberts, back from the sin bin, who had a straight run to the line where there was resistance. He offloaded to Chase Lee again at the line, who scored. That was well executed.  The resultant Kick good so Raiders were back in the lead 26-22.

Raiders worked their way back into Wanderers half and collected a penalty which Brendan clipped over. 29-22.

Wanderers surged back for a scrappy last 5 minutes, but the score stayed 29-22 to the end. A really good effort from the Raiders' boys and a deserved victory.  A good gutsy team performance again which holds them in good stead for the remainder of the season.

Man of the Match was No 3 Jake Gibson and thanks again to Sam from Port putt putt for this sponsorship.