by Mark Letcher

After the first bruising meeting between the Raiders and Innisfail at the beginning of the season this was bound to be a similar hard-fought game.

This it turned out to be and it was generally a scrappy affair. The battle of the two teams at the geographical extremities of the league got under way.

The Raiders started well and looked to be ready to run it and take control, but the week off seemed to show through quite quickly and they never really got going.  

Having said that, the Raiders' defence was still good and they managed to keep out a few attacks from the Innisfail boys, especially in the second half.

There was one red card in the first half for Innisfail's No 16 and I think this was deserved and it’s not the first time for them. Spear tackling is dangerous and needs to be stamped out.

The scrappiness prevented a good flowing game and the ref had to keep blowing for unnecessary infringements.

The Raiders were not a whole lot better and ill-discipline got them at least two yellow cards - one for coming in from the side to a maul/ruck (after repeatedly being warned) and the other for back chatting the referee. Really unnecessary stuff that only puts the team under pressure.

The Raiders had some good efforts and runs but couldn’t keep it flowing so it was a frustrating game to watch.
 
Half time was 5-0 (a seemingly fine conversion was not paid) and Innisfail did not really threaten the Raiders' line in the first half, but the second half was to be different and this was where the Raiders' defence held up.

Innisfail scored, but failed with the conversion. A penalty from the 10m from Brendan bounced back off the pole, but kept the Raiders in their quarter. The second attempt he had a little later was good, pushing the score to 8-5 and this it stayed to the end.

So all in all the Raiders ground out a win and the final score was 8-5. They hung in to keep the season alive.

Man of the Match was No 4 Frankie which was deserved as he got around plenty and thanks again to Sam from Port Putt Putt for this sponsorship.