Raiders cruise to bonus-point

Raiders' Harry Forrest dives over to touch down against Shelford

It has been a difficult start to the season for Raiders, with six defeats and five victories from their opening 11 matches. But they touched down six tries against Shelford to bounce back from the loss at Cornish All Blacks the previous week.

Alex Nielsen touched down twice, with Harry Forrest, Sam Hewick, Calum Waters and Matt McLean also going over.

It was Shelford who began the better and they went ahead through a Tom Ransom penalty on 11 minutes.

Raiders were not behind for long, though, as McLean kicked a penalty to make it 3-3 just four minutes later.

The visitors continued to look threatening in attack and they got the first try of the match when Richie McIver went over on 17 minutes.

Raiders’ response was almost immediate, with Nielsen embarking on a 30-yard run, before passing to McLean, who touched down his second try of the season. McLean also added the extras.

The home side got a second try just four minutes later when Ben Dudley drove forward and passed to Nielsen, who touched down and McLean once again converted.

Nielsen soon got his second try, before Raiders extended their advantage three minutes before half-time. Hewick bundled the ball over the try line following a scrum for the four-try bonus point and McLean made no mistake with the conversion to make the score 29-8.

The visitors did manage to pull a try back before the break as John Hale beat three players before touching down to make the score 29-13 at half-time.

Forrest went over for his fifth try of the season a minute after the break but McLean’s conversion went wide of the posts.

Waters then touched down with 15 minutes still left on the clock and McLean converted as the hosts recorded a comfortable victory. The 28-point success was Raiders’ largest since a 68-0 victory over Taunton in April, 2013.

Raiders travel to Cambridge on Saturday.

RAIDERS: Storer, Piper, Sargent, Redmayne, McGowan, Smith, Hewick, Perkins, Waters, Leeming, Nielsen, Coxon-Smith, Loosmore, Forrest, Mclean. Subs: Finney, Luke, Gaynor, Dudley, Greenwood.