Eleven-try blitz sinks Raiders

WITH the Raiders defending an unbeaten home record against Chinnor, and the Black & Whites needing a five point maximum to stay in contention at the top of the division, something had to give at Worthing on Saturday.

Ben Manning got the the visitors underway in the very first minute with Jonny Bentley adding the conversion to take an early seven point lead.

Hooker, Koree Britton, went over five minutes later with winger, Luke Hibberd, following suit. Bentley converted both tries and Chinnor were 21-0 to the good inside 10 minutes.

After that quick-fire trio, the visitors had to wait another 15 minutes to cross the line again for their all important bonus point. This time it was full back, Kieran Goss, who dotted down on 25 minutes for the first of his try hat trick. Jonny Bentley was wayward from the tee, one of only two conversions missed all day.

Worthing hit back before half time as Joe Watson-Brooks and Grant Gatford scored in quick succession with Mathew McLean converting both. At the interval the visitors led 26-14.

That was as good as it got for the Raiders as Chinnor racked up another seven tries in the second period.

Kieran Goss went over two minutes after the restart converted by Bentley, followed by Ben Pienaar seven minutes later. Replacement Basil Strang added the extras.

In the final half hour, Goss completed his hat trick and there were further tries from Charlie Broughton, Bevon Armitage, a second for Koree Britton and one for Basil Strang.

The 73-14 final score keeps the pressure on league leaders, Bishop’s Stortford, who narrowly beat Redingensians and play-off rivals, Old Elthamians, who secured their bonus point in a 47-12 win over Bury St Edmonds.

With two games to go, it’s fourth-placed Taunton who are the visitors for the last home match of the season on the April 22.

Teams
Worthing: McLean, Boyland, Leeming, Coxon-Smith, Paddenburg, Dobson, Peach, Storer, Watson-Brooks, Finney, Gatford, Lake, Whittall, Hewick, Cleveland
Interchanges: Gearing-Grief, Adams, Lee, Harris, Double

Chinnor: Kieran Goss, Luke Hibberd, Danny Barnes ©, Bevon Armitage, Henry Lamont, Jonny Bentley, Greg Goodfellow, Tom Price, Koree Britton, Jay Tyack, Ben Manning, CJ Osazuwa, Richard Thorpe, Alex Bradley, Ben Pienaar
Interchanges: Joe Hutchinson, Jamie Townsend, Tom Burns, Basil Strang, Charlie Broughton

Scorers
Worthing
Tries (time): Watson-Brooks 38, Gatford 40
Conversions (time): McLean 39, 41
Penalty Goals (time):

Chinnor
Tries (time): Manning 1, Britton 6, 78, Hibberd 9, Goss 25, 42, 53, Pienaar 49, Broughton 63, Armitage 72, Strang 80
Conversions (time): Bentley 2, 7, 10, 43 Strang 50, 64, 73, 79, 81
Penalty Goals (time):

Referee: Daniel Collins
Attendance: 475
Half time score: 14-26
Full time score: 14-73
Star man: Kieran Goss – Chinnor