Worthing Raiders are unable to halt Tonbridge Juddians' juggernaut

It was a relatively short journey for the Raiders but they faced a monumental against a Tonbridge side who went top following this win.

Worthing were boosted by the return on number eight Liam Perkins in the pack while Rhys Litterick was rested.

Evergreen Grant Gatford started at tight head with Elliott Luke and Jordan Gibson swapping the bench for starting places as hooker.

Matt McLean’s early break almost saw the Raiders take a surprise lead, although he was tackled short of the line.

Despite a bright start from Worthing, an interception led to Hugo Watson going over for the hosts early on.

Raiders had defended a number of lineout drives, but they eventually fell 8-0 behind after the TJs converted a penalty.

A yellow card was brandished to Jack Lee as things got worse for the visitors as the half wore on.

It looked as though Raiders would hold the score to 8-0 until the break, yet Rob White's converted try saw them trailing by 15 points at the interval.

There was still six minutes to run on Lee’s yellow card after the restart and Worthing were intent on keeping the score as it was until his return.

A concerted foray forward saw Henry Birch sprint in for a try in the corner to pull the score back to 15-7.

Any hopes of a Raiders comeback were quickly dashed as lock Rory McHugh's converted try restored Tonbridge's 15-point advantage.

The Raiders were now chasing the game, but the heavy going was taking its toll and gaps began to appear in what had been a good defensive line.

Three tries in quick succession, two of them converted, took the game away from Worthing in the space of 10 minutes.

Kieran Leeming dotted down under the posts late on for what was just a consolation as the Raiders were defeated 41-14.

Worthing will be aiming to get back to winning ways when they welcome Old Albanian to Roundstone Lane on Saturday.