‘Frustrating’ loss away to title contenders for Raiders

Raiders were well in the hunt at just 13-10 down at half-time, but two quick tries from the hosts shortly after the turnaround took them out of reach despite the best efforts of the visitors, who eventually went down 40-20.

‘It was a game of two halves really,’ said Guernsey director of rugby Jordan Reynolds.

‘We were competitive for the first half and at half-time we probably looking like the side in the ascendancy.

‘I’m not too sure what happened, but within five minutes of the second half Dorking had scored two tries in quick succession and once they had climbed to a 14-point lead, it is hard to draw them back from that.

‘It was disappointing, but it has sort of been the story of our season in away games that either we start slowly and have to play catch up, or we start well then not follow it through for the 80 minutes.

‘Dorking deserved the win, they took their opportunities well.’

Anthony Armstrong scored Guernsey’s only try of the first half, with the other five points coming from the boot of Charlie Simmonds.

Having fallen 27-10 down in the second half, James Burger got a try back, but Raiders then went down to 14 men when Brad Webb was sent off for what was described by the referee as a reckless, no-arms tackle.

Reynolds is hopeful that the red card will get rescinded having watched footage back of the incident, but Dorking made the most of their numerical advantage on the day by scoring two more tries before Matt Creber got a third for Raiders late on.

‘We had some good performances. John Dawe at 12 was really solid and Jack Colbourne slotting in at No 8 carried really well and defended well, but across the park I thought in the first half it was hard to single anyone out because 1-15 were excellent,’ said Reynolds.

‘It is a good thing that these guys are not rolling over, they are competing well, but it is also frustrating because if we had put another 40-minute performance in the second half like that first 40, I think we could have won that game. But we just started to drop off tackles and making poor decisions.

‘I am not sure if it’s a fatigue thing or what.

‘To be fair, Dorking were pretty much at full strength, they had five guys who have played Premiership rugby and when you look at that it can become quite daunting on a weekend when we are missing the likes of Sam Steventon, Lewis Hillier, Josh Poullet and Ciaran McGann.

‘It was good that all the guys who stepped in performed well, but maybe the difference on the day was just the class Dorking have in their stocks.’

Third-placed Dorking are still in the title hunt as they are currently seven points off leaders Tonbridge Juddians and just one point behind Barnes, who have played a game more than the other sides in the top three.

‘TJs still have to play both Barnes and Dorking as well as come to us, and there’s not a huge gap, so it could be a tight race between them,’ Reynolds said.

‘Funnily enough, I still don’t see Dorking or TJs as the best side we have faced, but I just think Barnes have had disciplinary issues that have cost them.

‘Let’s be honest, every one of the top five or six are good outfits, but realistically probably only Dorking or TJs will be in with a chance of top spot come the end.’

Things do not get any easier for Raiders as they are away to Barnes this coming Saturday.

‘For us we just have to get on a roll. We have never been great coming off a bye week, so we just want to build some continuity with the guys,’ said the Guernsey coach.