Annan 31
Raiders 12
Not all the rugby at the weekend fell victim to the frosty conditions, the Annan pitch inspection at 9:30am on Sunday morning returned a thumbs up, so the Renfrewshire Raiders U16 team was on the bus to the borders an hour later for their first non-friendly match since early November. With 5 senior players unavailable to play this first round match in the West U16 Plate competition things could easily have gone the wrong way for the Raiders, but they still managed to travel with a squad of 20 players and despite the long bus journey and cold ground the boys came out firing on all cylinders.
Tries from Jamie Dunn and Teejay Carey, both converted by co-captain Robbie Scott, put the Renfrewshire team 14-0 up going into the half-time break. Soon after the restart Scott increased the lead to 19 points with a clever dart into the corner (unconverted), but the visiting team’s momentum came to a shuddering stop a few minutes later when stand-off Dunn paid the price for persistent infringements and was ordered off the pitch for 10 minutes. Two quick tries from the home team’s strong #7, Rohan Cother, running straight through the disrupted defensive line brought the score back to 19-12 and with 15 minutes left on the clock, and with Annan in the ascendency the match was finely balanced. But a bulldozing run from Kyle Mallam to score under the posts with 10 minutes on the clock, again converted by Scott, put the Raiders out of touch at 26-12, the final nail slammed in just before the final whistle with Dunn putting Scott over the line after a series of strong forwards phases. Scott didn’t convert his own try, but left the pitch with a strong personal contribution of 16 points.
The final score was 31-12 to Raiders, a solid win to start their Plate campaign. The team was delighted to see centre Sam Worral return to the pitch after a few months away, performing as if he had never left, and they are also looking forward to welcoming back the players currently undergoing rehabilitation. If the squad continues to develop the way they have in the last few weeks then the next month or two could get exciting for the Renfrewshire Raiders!
The Raiders’ next game in the Plate competition is against Cartha U16s on 5th February, 2pm kick-off at Holmpark in Bishopton – please come along and support the boys.
