Raiders second-half collapse
Reading Raiders 24 Oxford Cavaliers 36
READING suffered a second-half collapse as their unbeaten start to the South West of England league season came to an end against Oxford.
In a match which also doubled up as the first leg of the Thames Valley Cup, Raiders led 24-8 at half-time, but the Cavaliers stormed back to score 28 unanswered points after restart to stun the hosts.
Alex Dorliac set Reading on their way in Sonning with an early try before John Boucher doubled the advantage.
Brad Walters’ strong run and finish helped open up an 18-0 advantage before Oxford finally got on the scoreboard with a breakaway try.
But when Walters grabbed his second score of the afternoon to establish a 24-4 lead, the points looked to be staying in Berkshire.
Cue a storming Oxford fightback, which began just before half-time and continued after the break as the Raiders’ error count rose.
A lack of discipline and basic mistakes allowed the visitors back into the contest as they dominated possession and scored four tries in quick succession to level up at 24-24.
In true Cavalier fashion, Oxford did not relent, scoring 12 more points to clinch the victory that takes them to the top of the table.
Loose-forward Simon Kalafusz and Ben Mitchell shared the Reading players of the match award.
The return leg is set for June 23.