PROSERPINE Whitsunday Raiders hosted the Slade Point Rugby club at home, on Saturday, with the game kicking off at 3.30pm in front of a good home crowd.
The first half was a real battle for both teams, neither giving an inch in attack and defence, which saw Slade Point repel four attempts by the Raiders to cross the line.
Slade Point got close to scoring on a number of occasions as well.
Half-time saw the scoreboard reading nil all with 40 mins to go. The crowd were on the edge of their seats.
It wasn’t until the 49th minute when Raiders’ left wing Rhys Ward got a pass from the base of a ruck in our own 22, he put the foot down got past his opposite number, side stepped the cover defence and flew down the sideline.
A little kick chase to get around the fullback and he came away with the first try and points of the game, a great individual display of his skills, converted by Niall Clancy and the raiders led 7 nil.
That was until the 57th minute, when Slade Point crossed the line and made the score 7 all.
The game was again in the balance until Raiders’ fullback Jack Briskey crossed the line in the 65th minute, taking it to 14 -7, the 74th minute saw the Slade Point boys cross the line again for a 14-12 scoreline.
It took the Raiders until the last five minutes of the game to show some ascendancy and put another two tries on the board to end the game as a 26-12 hard fought win.
This takes the Raiders to the top of the MRU competition table and they will be training hard this week to prepare to take on the Moranbah Bulls at the Sportspark, this coming Saturday.
The mighty Whitsunday Raiders will be hosting the Anzac triple-header competition next weekend.
The Anzac Triple Header expanded competition begins on Saturday, April 22, at the Whitsunday Sportspark, Airlie Beach, as they take on the Moranbah Bulls at 2pm.
With an expanded competition featuring six clubs – Moranbah Bulls, Kuttabul Boks, Whitsunday Raiders, Mackay Cities, Brothers Mackay and Bowen Mudcrabs – there will be plenty to look forward to over the three games, in what is no doubt one of the biggest game days of the season.
