WORTHING Raiders Rugby Club consolidated third spot in National 2 South on Saturday (February 25) with a 35-21 win over fourth-placed Henley Hawks.
Raiders emerged from a cracking spectacle with a bonus-point win over Hawks to move seven points clear of their opponents.
An early penalty from Matt McLean, along with a seventh-minute try from Alex Nielsen, which McLean duly converted, gave the hosts a 7-0 lead.
However, the visitors hit back through tries from James Comben and Tom Allen, both of which were converted, before Nielsen ran onto a chipped pass to touch down just before half-time to ensure Raiders went in with a slender 15-14 advantage.
Worthing were superb after the break and Michael Stubbs crossed underneath a pile of bodies after an excellent drive, before soon afterwards some magic on the wing from Jack Maslen extended their lead to 25-14.
A converted Henley try on 58 minutes brought the scores back to 25-21, but this just spurred the home side on even more.
McLean again found his angles and sent over a penalty, before with four minutes left Charlie McGowan stretched over the line for Worthing’s fifth try of the afternoon and McLean’s kick took the score to 35-21, which is how it finished.
Worthing head coach Kieron Dawson said: “Tactically we got it right, having got it wrong a few times this season. We learnt from our mistakes and fought fire with fire. We played at the right tempo and it went right for us.”
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