Match Report

Smallford 36-42 Eastern

26/05/07 (Courtesy of Eastern Raiders)

The Raiders were certainly going to up against it as they could only take 10 players on the long journey to St Albans to face the Smallford Saints for their first LARL game of the season. The Smallford captain was kind enough to lend a player to the Raiders from his 13 so the game went ahead with 12 v 11.

 

Despite this setback the Raiders set off at a great pace and scored first within the first five minutes after a strong burst from Celise Lowe who shrugged off three attempted tackles to muscle his way over the line for a 6-0 lead. The Saints came back hard but the Raiders defense stayed strong and after 10 minutes extended their lead with a very similar try to the first after a great run from Paul McCormack who carried 2 defenders over the line with him to complete the score. The game was then dominated by strong defense and a number of errors by both sides before on 25 minutes the Raiders lost prop Darren Armstrong with a badly busted nose. The Saints capitalised on the extra space by stretching the Raiders defense and scored in the corner with a successful conversion to reduce the arrears to 12-6. The Raiders managed to hold out but suffered a blow just before the half time whistle when some soft defense let the Saints in for a try under the posts which left the half time score tied at 12-12.

 

The Saints started the 2^nd half at 100 mph, scoring with their first three possessions. The Raiders had yet to touch the ball in the 2^nd half and had conceded three tries. In possession the Raiders could not make any impression on the Saints strong defense and it was no surprise when again the Saints scored from distance to leave the score at 12-30.

 

The Raiders were asked to get back to basics and try to complete their next set of 6 tackles. This was achieved on the next set hooker Alex Prit shrugged off two tackles to score under the posts. The Raiders had now managed to muster some confidence whilst the Saints were tiring considerably and following a great drive from 2^nd Row Bryn Lewis, Stand off John Scotchmer drove over from dummy half to score. This trend continued and it was no surprise when Full Back Peter Welch, playing his first game of rugby league, sped through a tiring defense to score under the posts to bring the score back to 26-30. The Raiders now believed an unlikely comeback was on the cards and another try from Scotchmer tied the scores at 30-30. The Raiders now believed the victory was there for the taking and after a huge up and under from stand off Scotchmer, Celise Lowe first caught the kick and then drove over to score. It was now one way traffic and following some strong running from George Liversidge and Neil Myerscough, Alex Prit scooted from dummy half and sped through to score under the posts. With just five minutes to play the Raiders led 42-30. The Saints captain rallied his troops for one last effort, and his players responded to score on their next possession, but thanks to some solid ball protection from the Raiders the score remained at 42-36.