Raiders are determined to remain top of the league

Raiders moved to the top just before the Christmas break and embark on the second half of the season when they entertain bottom-of-the-table Barking on Saturday.

Miles said: “We said at the start of the season that our aim was to be promoted and to avoid the play-off game.

“We’ve got to go into the second half of the season with all guns blazing now.

“We have been pretty good for the majority of the season. We’ve had one or two slip-ups and a couple of poor performances but we’ve had a consistent run of wins.

“We can’t rest on our laurels now and we’ll be taking nothing for granted. We’ve got to keep working hard and have to treat every game as a cup final.

“We’ve got a massive target on our back now that we’re top of the league. But, the way we play rugby, hopefully, we’ll finish the season in the position that we are in now.

“This is one of those leagues where no game is easy, so we’ll go into every game respecting our opponents, whether they are bottom or whether they are just below us.”

Worthing are a point clear of Hartpury College at the top of the table, after winning 12 of their 14 games in the first half of the season. Redruth and Henley Hawks are just a point behind Hartpury, in third and fourth place respectively.

Raiders host Barking, who have lost all of their league matches and have just two points from 15 games on Saturday, and Miles said: “It’s a bit of a catch 22 situation. There’s the possibility that we could take them lightly, or it could be the game we need to get re-introduced to playing after two weeks’ off.

“We’ve just got to go into the game all guns blazing as we’ve still got the Shelford game, which was the first game back after the Christmas break last season, in our minds.

“We had a poor day against them and that is quite a harsh memory and we all remember it well.”