This Saturday saw Reigate remain top of Surrey 5 thanks to a hard fought 15-9 win away from home over second place Raynes Park in a contest of two undefeated teams. Coming into the match it was the visitors who held the advantage, with Reigate’s impressive early season form seeing them pick up 25 points from a possible 25, whilst Raynes Park had picked up 24.

The home side struck first with the impressive boot of Raynes Park’s fly-half punishing Reigate ill-discipline from inside his own half to take a 3-0 lead early on. In an arm-wrestle of a match Reigate were able to make good progress in attack, but came up short after multiple phases against an equally well-drilled Raynes Park defence.

It was Second Row Phil Henderson who eventually came up good for Reigate, snaffling loose lineout ball to crash over from 5 metres out into the corner, unfortunately the angle was too tight for the extras to be added on this occasion. The lead changed hands once again 15 minutes later with another Raynes Park penalty taking the score to 6-5 before wing Joshua Saunders stepped up to coolly slot a penalty for the visitors and give them an 8-6 lead at half-time.

The second half played very similarly to the first, with defensive effort nullifying the attacking options available to both sides, and with the pitch being short and narrow space was hard to come by. Reigate were offered a great opportunity late on in the half to cement their lead with a penalty kick to touch putting them into the opposition 22 but were unable to get the maul working for them and subsequently lost possession due to the ball becoming unplayable. Scrum awarded to Raynes Park, Reigate’s dominance at the set piece came to the fore as from 5 metres out they were able to win the scrummage against the head, driving over the line with a coordinated shove and allowing James Bennett to flop down on the ball from the No.8 spot.

As Saunders was able to slot the extras the hosts knew that they had a game to chase being 2 scores down and with 15 left on the clock. Another shot at the sticks allowed Raynes Park to get within 7 and 5 minutes to go, but the Reigate defence held firm – stealing another lineout which allowed them to get the ball out and maintain their unbeaten start to the season.

Afterwards a Matt Sanford noted his relief “we knew coming here would be a tough fixture against a well drilled outfit and they’ve pushed us today. I’m really pleased with our controlled yet aggressive defence, at no point did I feel Raynes Park came close to threatening our line, but at the same time it’s frustrating that we couldn’t find that clinical ruthlessness that I’ve seen in other games this season and make the final play to really pull away in this one. Still, a win is a win, we will enjoy this and look to go again next week.”