Raiders dig in to move into fourth

The wind and rain could not keep hundreds of fans from packing the back of the Garenne Stand for Guernsey’s first home game of the season in which they saw off the challenge of Leicester Lions 17-5 to make it four wins on the trot after five rounds.

‘Probably not the performance we wanted to give to the crowd, but they were pretty tough conditions out there and it will be interesting to see a lot of results today through England because I don’t think they are going to be high-scoring,’ said Raiders director of rugby Jordan Reynolds post match.

‘But you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do in those conditions. We were much better into the wind in the second half than we were with it behind our backs in the first half ... but it’s another win we get to notch up and plenty to improve on.’

A solitary Owen Thomas penalty from nigh-on halfway was all that separated the two sides at the half-time interval despite Guernsey having the elements in their favour in the opening 40 minutes.

The home side went up several gears in the third quarter of the game, though, scoring tries through Anthony Armstrong and Charlie Currie, both converted by Thomas, to take control of the match and allow them to manage the game in the final quarter.

Lions did not get on the scoreboard until hooker Oliver Taylor touched down with time having expired.

‘Within the group we were aiming for four in the first four, obviously Worthing didn’t come off, and we’ve now got four out of five and it sits really nicely with us. Another tough game next week against Barnes, but we are still winning ugly and the big plus to that is that we are winning,' said Reynolds.

• Match report in Monday's Guernsey Press.