Worthing Raiders head coach on 'very important win' at Bury St Edmunds

Worthing Raiders head coach Jody Levett called his side's first ever win at Bury St Edmunds a '˜pleasing peformance' and '˜an important win'.
Bury St Edmunds v Worthing Raiders. Picture by Colin CoulsonBury St Edmunds v Worthing Raiders. Picture by Colin Coulson
Bury St Edmunds v Worthing Raiders. Picture by Colin Coulson

The Raiders had never won away at the Suffolk side and before the game selection had been hampered by injury and unavailability.

Tom Miller and Rob Cuffe made their debuts, Alex Basson made his first start after benching for the first time the previous week and Jordan Gibson was on the bench after missing more than a full season with injury.

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But tries from Henry Birch (2), Tom Miller, Alex Basson, Matt McLean and John Dawe saw them win 36-22.

Levett said: “It was a pleasing performance. Scoring three tries in 20 minutes was really good, especially away from home.

“It was a very important win, as the league is so tight and after a poor performance last week against OAs we needed to see a vast improvement and we did.”

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And Levett was impressed with the fast start. He said: “Yes very pleased, we were able to capitalise on their mistakes unlike the previous week.

“Also, we were able to apply genuine pressure to them through some excellent phase play. To score four tries before half time, was fantastic, although unfortunately we probably took our foot off the gas a little after half time, which allowed them back into the game."

The result was the perfect response to the loss to Old Albanian at Roundstone Lane last week.

Levett said: “It was obviously very important to bounce back. It was very disappointing last week and we asked the players for an immediate positive response, with regards performance and we got that.

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“The beauty of sport is it gives the opportunity the following week to make up for the errors of the previous game.”

The Raiders now have a week off and Levett sees it as a great chance to reflect on the first third of the season.

He said: “It will certainly give players and opportunity to recover from the bumps and bruises picked up from the first ten games.

“It is phase one done and a third of the way through the season. It gives us, the coaching staff a chance to reflect and review the progress so far, ready for the run into Christmas, with the first game back being Barnes at home who are currently in a real purple patch will certainly be a real test.”

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Raiders: McLean, Basson (Adams 55 mins, Basson 66 mins), Richards, Miller, H Forrest, J Forrest, Holt, Birch, Luke (Gibson 67 mins), Adams (Sassone 31 mins) Lee, Lake, Price, Dawe, Perkins – Captain (Cuffe 58 mins)