Clickety-click sixty six: Raiders thumped against old foes

The West Wales Raiders made it ten defeats out of ten this season as they suffered a 66-0 hammering at the hands of Workington Town - the club's first ever opponents in their original guise more than 11 years ago.

Roll back the clock to 2010, and this club - then under the guise of the South Wales Scorpions - narrowly beat Workington in a first ever competitive game following the Celtic Crusaders' painful switch North.

Fast forward to 2021, and it was a very different story as the region's current XII-a-side charges renewed their rivalry with the stalwarts of Derwent Park.

The Raiders were 'nilled' for the first time this season with a bitterly disappointing 66-0 loss at the hands of the Cumbrian outfit.

A season which started with much optimism - fuelled by the arrivals of Gavin Henson and the now departed Rangi Chase - looks pretty hopeless right now after ten defeats on the spin this campaign.

The hosts ran in six tries in either half, and peppered the Raiders' try line consistently throughout the game without relent as they keep the pressure on Cumbrian rivals Barrow Raiders at the top of the division.

Ethan Bickerdike bagged a first-half brace, while Caine Barnes, Matty Henson, Jake Moore and Rhys Clarke also crossed for Town.

Bickerdike made it a hat-trick after the interbal, while Hanley Dawson, Declan O’Donnell and Joe Brown also scored. Blain Marwood also bagged a second-half brace, while Carl Forber fired over 18 points with the boot.

Raiders, meanwhile, remain rooted to the bottom of the table, and have now leaked 542 points in all competitions this season - having scored 108. The club will be hoping for improvements against mid-table Rochdale Hornets next weekend.