Rugby League

League 1

Saturday 8th June 2019

Kick Off 15.00

West Wales Raiders 12 Workington Town 58, attendance 100

@ Stebonheath Park

Penallt Road

Llanelli

SA15 1EY

£10 Admission

£2 Programme available, didn’t bother buying.

I was surprised it was as far back as 24th November 2000 that I had first visited Stebonheath Park, for football, when I saw Llanelli 1 Barry Town 6 in a League Of Wales fixture. These days it is also home to the top rugby league club of South Wales, who were re branded as West Wales Raiders when they moved here. I don’t know how, or why, these clubs from outside the traditional heartland of rugby league bother though. A crowd of just 100 is pathetic for a national level three match and not all will have paid. It doesn’t help when the team are rubbish. They had lost all 9 games coming into this and the only reason that they are not bottom of the league table is due to Keighley Cougars starting with a minus points penalty, although having won five games already, the gap is now just a point between them and Raiders.

I thought today might be a game that Raiders had a chance of winning, as Workington had only won 4 of their 9 matches so far. It wasn’t even close. When former New Zealand and Tonga international Fui Fui Moi Moi went over for the visitors second try after eleven minutes it was already game over. By halftime it was 0-28. Workington converted another try, before Raiders converted a try of their own to make it 6-34 twelve minutes into the second half. Three more converted tries from the visitors made it 6-52, before Raiders scored again, but almost immediately Workington restored the gap to round it off for an easy 12-58 win.

Apparently, it had taken Workington nine hours to make the trip from Cumbria, having left on Friday and having had an overnight stop en route. According to their twitter account, the team coach arrived back at Derwent Park at 02.26 on Sunday morning!