By Adam Hunter

Bournemouth Lions endured a frustrating afternoon on Saturday as they lost to Worthing Raiders in their first home game back in National Two South. The south coast side, newly promoted after a stellar season as champions of South West Premier, had not lost at Chapel Gate since October 2017. Director of Rugby Will Croker was in confident mood ahead of Saturday’s fixture.

“We had spoken in the week about how important it was to come out firing, to come out hot, and we had a really good preparation before the game,” Croker said.

But an unforced from the first lineout of the match gave Raiders a scrum from which they pounced, crossing for their first try inside two minutes.

Croker was quick to acknowledge the efficiency of the visitors who had finished solidly in mid-table last season.

“Our unforced errors invited pressure on and Worthing were very quick to pounce. They scored some good tries.”

With the score at 18-3 in favour of Raiders, Bournemouth began to work their way into the game, and a try from Alex Everett-Bolter converted by full back Grant Hancox fired up the home support.

Lions were without their share of luck as a second try was disallowed before half time.

“That would have made a big difference,” Croker acknowledged.

Down 27-10 at half time, Bournemouth rallied in the second half, and matched their more established opponents for substantial periods. Tries for Tom Napier and Sam Hardcastle brought the deficit back to 37-24 and earned Bournemouth a losing bonus point, which could be significant towards the end of the season.

Croker is now looking forward to improving on the performance next game.

“Now we need to get back on the training paddock and keep working hard on the things we’ve done well.

“There are wins around the corner.”

Raiders’ Head Coach Jody Levett was happy with his team’s performance.

“We knew we had to get off to a quick start and get some early points on the board, which we did,” he said after the match.

And he was please to get an away win, hard to come by in such a competitive league.

Levett was quick to acknowledge the performance of the home side.

“Bournemouth were a good challenge. They stood a good chance but made some silly mistakes which cost them. They made us work hard at times.”

And Worthing can look ahead to building on a good start to their campaign.

“In terms of the league, two wins from two, but with twenty-eight games to go and we’re not under any illusions. It’s a tough league.”