Last-gasp loss leaves Raiders feeling gutted

With time in the red in their top-of-the-table clash away to leaders Tonbridge Juddians, the hosts scored an 82nd minute try through Duncan Tout to pull within a point of Guernsey before Thomas White added a touchline conversion to inflict a 38-37 defeat on Jordan Reynolds’ side.

‘It’s gutting,’ said Guernsey’s director of rugby, having seen his side lead throughout the entire 80 minutes but only come away with two bonus points.

‘We lost the game, but we took on one of the best sides in the league on Saturday and it took them until extra time to beat us.

‘We have still got to play them at Footes Lane, right? I think we will be stewing on this for a long time.’

Both sides went into the game with four bonus-point wins to their name from their first four games, but it was the visitors who started much the stronger with Ciaran McGann slotting over an early penalty to give them the lead before tries from Dom Rice and Anthony Armstrong, both converted by McGann, took them 17 points ahead.

The game then became end-to-end for the rest of the first half, with TJs scoring three converted tries while Niall McGann touched down twice for Raiders, who led 27-24 at the break.

The younger brother completed his hat-trick in the third quarter of the game while his sibling added another five points with the boot to take Guernsey 37-24 ahead.

However, when Raiders had co-captain Lewis Hillier in the sin-bin they conceded a converted try to set up a grandstand finale and TJs came up with the winning score when Guernsey had no time to respond.

‘It’s a frustrating one for us,’ said Reynolds.

‘We came out of the blocks really well in the first half, were leading 17-0, but then something that has been a bit of a recurring theme for us – struggling to get our exits right – crept in, and we put ourselves under a bit of pressure.

‘We started the second half well, got three points then a converted try, but in the final quarter we just could not get up the pitch.

‘They had nine visits into our 22, only scored twice, but the last one was in the 82nd minute and he kicked it from the sideline.’

The result aside, Reynolds took a lot from his side’s performance as they carried the momentum they gained in September into their biggest test to date.

‘I wouldn’t say we’re surprising ourselves, but last year we would have given our right arm for two points from a game away at TJs and on Saturday we were dominant in so many areas for so much of the game,’ he said.

‘It’s an eye-opener for us that we have just done that on the road against a team with all their cash and the players they have.

‘One of the things that has been evident so far this season has been our physicality and I think we stepped it up another notch. Across the park everyone was at least a seven out of 10.

‘Off the back of this result, we have said we will use the frustration in preparing for our game with Barnes this week.

‘We have gone from playing first v third to first v second and now it is second v third, so the games do not get any easier.’