Worthing Raiders played their third warm-up game against Hertford at Roundstone Lane on Saturday with the spirited visiting side eventually running out winners by 17 – 22.
This was a disappointment after 2 good wins on the road in Wales last week-end, however these pre-season games are very much voyages of discovery and doubtless the coaching staff found out more about the combinations of new and existing players from the performance. The match was only 5 minutes old when skipper Jody Levett left the field with bruised ribs. His replacement JC lasted a bare minute before he came off as well. He was replaced by Alex Hyslop. Raiders got the first score with a try by Richard Kreft. 5 – 0 This remained the score at half-time.
This was evened up after a knock-on at the base of the scrum led to Hertford scoring in the corner. 5 – 5.
A promising break ended in a kick ahead which was gratefully received by the visitors who ran the ball virtually the length of the pitch to score and take the score to 5 – 10. Good work by new No 10 Tom Wells, and his beautifully timed pass allowed Paul Cox to power through the Hertford defence to set centre Gareth Richards up to score under the posts. Worthing were not up to the task getting the kicking Tee on the pitch in time and the hastily taken drop-kick by Wells was unsuccessful. 10 – 10.
The Raiders looked to have secured the win when Will Harris scored and Wells converted to make it 17 –10. However 2 late turnovers by the home side allowed Hertford to score 2 tries and 1 conversion to make their trip to the seaside a profitable one. Final score 15 – 22. For the Raiders new signings were much in evidence and the pick of the crop was Polish National Squad lock Kasper Lawski who had a busy afternoon in a new look Worthing pack.
Hertford were unable to bring a second team to Worthing so their game was cancelled.
