Late change does not disrupt rampant Raiders

Raiders put Sidcup to the sword, 74-13, with a dominant performance on Saturday at Footes Lane where the hosts overpowered the visitors with plenty to spare to ensure that it will be a huge top-of-the-table clash when they go to the league leaders in two weeks’ time.

One minor worry will be the fitness of Owen Thomas, who felt some discomfort in his hamstring during the warm-up which forced Guernsey into a reshuffle quarter-of-an-hour before kick-off, but it was with the Wimbledon game in mind that coach Jordan Reynolds decided not to risk his fly-half.

Instead, Thomas lent his expert eye from the sideline as Joe Andresen made light of his 11th hour switch into the No. 10 shirt to produce an excellent individual display – one of many in the Raiders ranks.

‘It’s good to see us adapt to it [the late change],’ Reynolds said.

‘Joe really controlled what we were trying to do out there and you’ve got to remember his head was around playing fullback all week. We’ve made that change quickly, no-one whinged about it, everyone got on with it and that’s really good from us.

‘I thought there were some key areas where we dominated. Last week was probably the breakdown but this week wasn’t, it was probably the set-piece, so that was a big plus for us.

‘I thought this performance was a lot better than the CS Stags when it was just helter-skelter rugby. Today, I will not say it was a complete performance because there were parts that were not there, but attacking-wise I thought we were pretty dominant.’

There were a hat-trick of tries for both Doug Horrocks and Jake O'Connor, two for birthday boy Tom Ceillam and one each for Tom Teasdale, Matt Armstrong, Mike Agyei-King and Lucas Barker.

• More in Monday's Guernsey Press.