Red cards leave Worthing Raiders battling versus Barnes – but point is a bonus

Against a very good Barnes side the effort put in by the Raiders’ side cannot be doubted and their ability to manufacture that fourth try was nothing short of exceptional.

For this first home game of the season, the opposition was the same as the last game of last season. Raiders beat Barnes with the final kick of the game on that occasion and as one of the only three teams to win their first two matches a tough encounter was expected.

With Fraser Bruce and Curtis Barnes still injured and Will Rigelsford unavailable, Iago Davies returned at scrum half, Ethan Clarke to the front row and Cam Dobinson to the bench.

Raiders v Barnes in 32 Stephen Goodger’s pictures.

Four of the squad were making their home debut, Alfie Ambrose, Will Rawlinson, Harry Alexander and Fin Glass.

It was another hot, sunny afternoon and conditions were right for an open, entertaining match. Raiders kicked off and were quickly into their stride, controlling possession in the first few minutes.

With four minutes played the home side began an attack in their own territory, the ball was moved to the left across the backs until Harrison Sims made a clean break through the visitors’ defensive line.

With 40m to go he sold a neat dummy to the final defender and sprinted away to score the first try. Louis Ellis converted to give Raiders the early lead at 7-0.

The next 20 minutes belonged to the visitors as they dominated possession and field position. They ran powerfully with ball in hand, broke first up tackles and off-loaded skilfully and scored three tries. With only one of these converted by the mid-point of the half they had a 7-17 lead.

Raiders worked hard and began to drag themselves back into the game. They continued to move the ball between the forwards and backs in their search for another score.

Slowly they regained parity with possession and started to put the visitors under pressure in the attacking third.

After29 minutes Raiders were on the offensive, spreading the ball wide when possible and keeping it close when necessary. It took a powerful run from Frank Taggart to break the defensive line before the ball found its way into Louis Ellis’s hands for him to score against his old club. His conversion narrowed the gap to 14-17.

Barnes hit back with a penalty to stretch the lead to 14-20 and there was plenty for the crowd of nearly 400 to enjoy.

As the half was nearing its conclusion Raiders were looking as if they might get the next score, and they did. Following an excellent build-up of flowing rugby Jack Forrest made a half break that allowed him to get the ball away to Harrison Sims who dived in for his second try of the game.

Ellis again converted and the home side were back in the lead at 21-20 as the referee brought the half to a close.

The home side brought Cam Dobinson and Tom Sunray on for Iago Davies and Joe Knight at the interval.

Barnes restarted the game and Raiders were on the attack straight away.

Forrest made a great individual run, brushing aside many attempted tackle. He took play deep into the visitors’ territory and it looked like a score was on the cards until a penalty was awarded to Barnes at the breakdown and they were able to relieve the pressure.

Having moved the game deep into the Raiders’ territory, Barnes were awarded a penalty from which they chose to have a shot at the posts.

With the successful kick they retook the lead 21-23, with eight minutes of the half played.

The visitors followed this with a converted try to stretch their lead to 21-30. At this point there was no need for panic in the home side’s performance as they looked capable of retrieving the situation until with 11 minutes of the half played, Dan Sargent received a red card for a head-on-head collision.

Undeterred, the home side continued to play well and when Sims intercepted a Barnes’ pass in his own half, they nearly got the next vital score but were thwarted when forced into touch a few metres short of the goal line.

Finlay Glass came on when the next scrummage took place and Tom Golder was sacrificed. Shortly after Iago Davies returned in place of Ellis.

In the next few moments the game was lost by Raiders. Jack Lake was yellow carded and Jack Doorey-Palmer was red carded. With Raiders down to 12 players there was little hope of a recovery.

The game became quite farcical as Barnes had numerous scrums close to the Raiders’ goal line, which produced penalties or tries, there being very little the Raiders’ depleted side could do to control things.

Barnes scored two converted tries to extend the lead to 21-44 in this period.

When Lake’s yellow-card period ended, Alfie Ambrose returned in his place.

With 13 men the home side showed great spirit and continued to play good rugby in their attempt for a fourth, bonus-point try.

Davies and Ethan Clarke made impressive breaks through the Barnes’ defence and earned a scrum close to their line. The ball was won and skipper Forrest broke through to score. Tom Bowen converted to make it 28-44. Raiders had nabbed a bonus point and when Barnes scored again it was of little consequence.

Referee: Mike Lamb

Scorers: Try: Sims (2), Ellis, Forrest. Con: Ellis (4)

Team: 1 Ethan Clarke 2. Jack Doorey-Palmer 3. Dan Sargent 4. Jack Lake (VC) 5. Tom Golder 6. Alfie Ambrose 7. Joe Knight 8. Frank Taggart 9. Iago Davies 10. Louis Ellis 11. Will Rawlinson 12. Harrison Sims 13. Jack Forrest (C) 14. Charlie Spencer 15. Tom Bowen. Replacements: 16. Grant Gatford 17. Fin Glass 18. Harry Alexander 19. Cam Dobinson 20. Tom Sunray.

Enzo’s Man of the Match: Jack Forrest

Attendance: 396