Oulton Raiders made the long journey South down the M1 to take on the Army in Aldershot. A National Conference League club, that boasts the likes of ex-Leeds Rhinos and now Sydney Roosters star Ryan Hall as a former player, the Raiders were always going to be formidable opposition....and so it proved.

Early Army nerves gifted the Raiders territory and position from the kick off, but the visitors were unable to capitalise on the Army error. Both sides then quickly got into their stride, trading set for set. Some excellent defence from the Raiders restricted the Army to their own half with the ball, whilst strong running through the middle from the Raiders forwards meant they made gains on every tackle. Such was the pattern for the first 10 mins or so, with only Raiders' errors at critical moments keeping them from scoring. With the visitors in ascendancy a repeat set, followed by a tap penalty, finally gave the Raiders reward for all their hard work and their full back crossed for their first try. He then added the extras.

From the restart the Raiders were quickly back in their stride, working through their sets clinically, generating good ruck speed. The Army defence held firm and the home side slowly worked their way back into the game. A sustained period of Army pressure – penalty, repeat set, held up, forcing a drop out, penalty, finally resulted in the breakthrough when scrum half Baines touched down his own kick through. Roche added the extras.

The remainder of the 1st half was played out as a real “arm-wrestle”, with superb tackling and ground work from the Raiders denying the Army any real territory, whilst the Raiders continued to make good gains in their sets, but again errors at critical times just kept letting the Army off the hook time and again. The Raiders finished the half with a flourish and looked to have crossed in the corner, but the referee deemed a forward pass had finished a good piece of movement from the visitors. The Army side, looking a little “ragged” by now, breathed a huge sigh of relief when the half time whistle came.

The Army kicked off the 2nd half and enjoyed a early period of pressure, but the Raiders defence held firm yet again, before they broke out themselves to finish a set deep in the Army half. On their next set the Army were finally able to use some of their pace against some tiring Raiders forwards and broke through the middle of the defensive line, before Baines finished off the move to score near the posts. Roche added the extras. Within minutes more sustained pressure from the Army resulted in Watkin barging his way over to score. Again Roche added the 2 points.

Despite starting to look a little tired the Raiders just kept coming, their big forwards carting the ball up time and again and their endeavour was rewarded with a well worked try in the corner. Sadly for the Raiders the kick was missed. Much of the 2nd half was back into the “arm-wrestle”, with some great rugby league on show, but as the Raiders' tanks started to run empty and ill-discipline started to creep in the Army slowly gained the ascendency. Their resilience was rewarded with a try for Toms, with 2 points again added successfully by Roche. In the last few minutes, with the Raiders already reduced to 12 men (sin-bin) further indiscipline resulted in a kickable Army penalty and Roche stepped up to score and take the “heat” out of the game.

Final score: 26-10

Post match Army Coach Karl O'Doherty commented, “A very tough game, exactly what you'd expect from one of the top NCL sides. They just kept coming and they know how to grind out their sets......I think our fitness levels helped, especially in the 2nd half, but I am also really pleased with the boys' discipline.”
Teams:

Army Rugby League

Baines, Beevor, Dobson, Holmes, Hoyle, Laing, Matamosi, McBride, Naulusala, O'Connell, Roche, Scott, Toms, Vakalalabure, Watkin, Zuger.

Oulton Raiders

Barton, Brown, Day, Edmiston, Hainsworth, Holdsworth, Jagger, Langton, Milner, Murray, Saunders, Stableford, Stanley, Stevens, Storey, Thompson, Walpole, Walters.