RUGBY: Green delighted with Worthing's win at Canterbury

IT was another late show from Worthing Raiders Rugby Club on Saturday which left head coach Will Green hailing the 18-16 win at Canterbury as "one of their best of the season."

A 78th-minute driving try from Semi Taulava swung it Worthing's way and, although the result saw them slip a place in the National 2 South table, owing to Shelford's bonus point win, Green praised the performance.

He said: "It was a brilliant performance against the wind in the first half, which was a good as any so far this season.

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"The first half gave us a good platform to go on and win the game after the break and a win at Canterbury is excellent.

"It's a tough place to go and play rugby and we've had some fun and games at home but it's all about winning on the road. Scoring again in the last couple of minutes is a credit to the guys' fitness, their staying power in games, and never give-up attitude."

Raiders faced a tough start to the match, battling both the wind and the slope and went behind to two kicked penalties from the boot of Ben Thomas early on.

Worthing started to get a foot in the game and a Ben Dudley kick upfield gave Canterbury the put in at the line-out. But Charlie McGowan stole the ball and crashed over through a hole left in the middle.

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Canterbury's Pat Sykes then intercepted a pass on the edge of their own 22 and ran the length of the field and touched down to send the hosts in 11-5 up at the break, as McLean missed a penalty just before half-time.

With the pitch and wind in their favour, Worthing started the second half strongly, but lost McGowan to the sinbin in the 50th minute.

They kept Canterbury at bay, before seven minutes later Steve Goode collected the same punishment to leave both sides with 14 players. Matt McLean, having already missed two opportunities, found his kicking boots and sent over a penalty a minute later.

Dudley then touched down to put Raiders in front, but Canterbury soon regained the lead as Matt Sheen went over.

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Raiders threw everything at the home side for the remainder of the game and as Canterbury failed to clear, they eventually put down behind their own line.

That gave Worthing a five-meter scrum and Taulava got the ball, palmed off two tackles and crashed over on top of a attempted tackler to secure the win.

WORTHING: Bruce, Cleveland, Bennett, Launchbury, McGowan, Smith, Redmayne, Taulava, McLean, Walker, Dunckley, Meddings, Maslen, Dudley, Costigan. Subs: Arthur, Hewick, Emmett, Nielsen, Metters.

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