Match Preview

‘BARNO’ REACHES THE ‘TON’

THREE years ago his career hung by a thread.
Malcolm Barnes, our mercurial scrum half, had fractured his neck.
Would he be OK, would he play again?
Well, it all turned out fine and tomorrow, by remarkable coincidence, he plays his 100th game for Raiders against, of all clubs, Barnes.
How weird’s that?

Old ‘Barno’ is playing as well as ever and head coach Jordan Reynolds has been keen to tell anyone who will listen, just how great ‘Barno’ continues to be on and off the pitch.
Nobody sets an example to preparing for a game, better than him.
‘It does not matter who it’s against – he has given a great insight in preparation to a lot of our players coming through and also to myself,’ said the coach.
‘It is something I speak to a lot of the younger lads about and how they should learn from watching him go about his business,’ he added.
Perhaps, surprisingly, ‘Barno’ has made more than half his appearances for Raiders after recovering from the broken neck he suffered during a game early in 2014.
Tomorrow he will certainly be integral to Raiders’ performance in what promises to be a very difficult game, away to London & SE Premier title contenders Barnes RFC.
Fellow Kiwi Sam Whitehead again fills in at 10 with Owen Thomas still away, but with the Welshman set to return next week, it is likely to be the last time we see Sam at stand-off for a while.
The other significant team news is that Luke Jones returns from injury on the wing.

Reynolds has had to make a difficult decision re the pack, with the highly versatile Dale Martin dropping to the bench where he joins the ever-reliable Cameron Craine and young Kyle Brown.
As for Barnes RFC, they come into the game on the back of six straight wins, this after they slipped up a couple of times in early games in this, their first season back at this level. Last year they were relegated from National League Two.

A quick glance at their club home page shows how much depth they have in terms of talent, but it could be argued that Raiders are closing the gap.
If they weren't, they wouldn't be in a position to have players such as Owen Thomas, Cam Craine, Dale Martin, Kyle Brown, Luke Skovronek, Charlie Currie, Chris Ahne, Jim Elliott, Jim Regnard in reserve.
Good luck to the boys.

Kick off is at 2pm, with live updates on our Facebook and Twitter pages.

RAIDERS TEAM:
Sam Steventon, Tom Ceillam, Layton Batiste, Lewis Hillier (c), Nick Merrien, Dan Hill, Robin Le Cocq, Douglas Horrocks; Malcolm Barnes, Sam Whitehead, Blair Campbell, Ned Brown, Anthony Armstrong, Luke Jones, Luke Sayer.
Replacements: Cameron Craine, Dale Martin, Kyle Brown.