With the sevens behind them until next year the Raiders hosted the Innisfail Vikings in the season opener at Raider Park.

Hot, was an understatement with temperatures at the ground in the high 30’s and relative humidity in the eighties it was the most repressive conditions the raiders have ever had to play in. Heat exhaustion was the biggest challenge on the day for both sides and the attrition rate was high.

Hot ,was the start the Raiders needed and executed. Kicking off giving the ball plenty of air Grae enabled the forwards to contest the ball.

Philip 'meat tray' Stewart took a flying catch and two rucks later Simon Chic (Chica) playing his first game at half spun the ball wide to Todd Funch who chipped over the defensive line for Grae to score the opening try for the season.  The conversion was unsuccessful.

The game from the Raiders was well structured with them developing many opportunities in attack but tidy backline defence from the Vikings or ball retention in the conditions prevented the score from increasing.

With 30 minutes gone in the half, off a line out drive in the Vikings 22 the back three rolled out passing the ball off to Chica who stepped into a wide hole behind the maul and ran 15 meters to score in the corner.  The conversion was unsuccessful the Raiders led 10 nil.

With fatigue high in the conditions and on the back of several interesting penalties at the breakdown and some scrappy play from both sides the Vikings were rewarded and scored in the corner.

With bodies spent both teams were pleased to hear the half time whistle with the Raiders ahead 10 – 5 on the score board and tactically ahead having the starting line-up still on the field at the break and Innisfail having already used 5 of 8 replacements.

The second half of the game started with the Vikings pushing hard in the Raiders 22 for a solid 10 minutes, the Raiders defended with venom and repelled several solid Vikings opportunities.

At this point the reserves were put into the game in ones and two’s in five minute intervals bringing in players who had put in for a solid fifty plus minutes all on the verge of heat exhaustion and collapse.

The Raiders from this point started to lift their intensity up to a level that Innisfail could not match culminating in a try to Grand Payne out wide, unconverted and a try to replacement Adrian Bannerman after some well executed forward play in tight to the right of the uprights.  Grae Gilbert converted and the score was 22 -5.

From this point the Raiders played 15 minutes of thoughtful rugby putting the ball behind the Vikings forward pack relentlessly turning them around again and again sapping their energy.

With both teams exhausted, mercifully, the final whistle sounded a first up win for the raiders with the bonus point.

It was a top effort by the playing group in the conditions, standouts on the day were all over the park but the 3 points went to Simon Chic, 2 points to Phil Stewart and 1 point to Adam Calcraft.

Action photos courtesy : Darryl Kirk