Guernsey Press

Raiders’ locomotive keeps on rolling

TRAIN services in the south may have been disrupted by the downpours, but the Raiders locomotive keeps on rolling at full pelt as Brighton Blues discovered on Saturday.

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Another successful raid: Anthony Armstrong burst through to add to the Brighton Blues at the Waterhall ground where the home crowd looked down on the one-sided action. (Picture by Mike Marshall, 26741426)

Jordan Reynolds’ side romped to a 47-7 win, gained the usual bonus point and head into Christmas two points clear of Rochford Hundred, who edged a tight game at Hertford, and three ahead of Wimbledon, who beat CS Stags with plenty to spare.

On Friday, much of the talk was whether the game would survive at the Waterhall Playing Fields as football and rugby in the south was heavily hit.

But situated on the chalky South Downs, the Blues’ home ground drained well and Raiders coach Jordan Reynolds was thankful for the efforts from the homesters who were out in force with forks.

‘It was quite wet but they did a fairly good job. It was nothing like the Sevenoaks game,’ said Reynolds, who praised his side for a strong and controlled performance in the wet.

‘We controlled the game well with ball in hand and we didn’t kick the ball away much. We built through the phases.’

In truth, despite a gutsy effort by the Blues, Raiders were by far the stronger of the two teams and only the dogged determination of the local defence prevented Raiders from scoring many more points.

  • More in Monday's Guernsey Press.