Great to be back, some good rugby played amid the ordinary, but ultimately a narrow defeat.

But, for others in our league it was much worse, notably Henley Hawks who before the day was out had seen one of their players, David Hyde, collapse post the final whistle and later die in hospital. Our thoughts and condolences go out to the Hyde family and Henley.

As for ourselves, director of rugby and head coach Jordan Reynolds saw good and bad from the first day loss. 'The scrum worked well, which is great. That was the pleasing aspect,' he said on Sunday. 'I'd call it a rusty performance. We never got out of second gear and yet almost won the game.'

The plain truth of the matter was that Raiders took too long to get up to speed, as he recognised. 'We did not start well and we were possibly lacking a bit of confidence. It took us 40 minutes to really play. But at 16 points down it was going to be a tall order.'

The visitors were behind from very early on. After a Raiders infringement Worthing's Matt Mclean slotted the ball over for three points and as both teams battled to take control of bragging rights Worthing were again gifted another three points for a Raiders infringement. Mclean again kicked the points.

For the travelling Raiders Owen Thomas kicked long to try and take advantage of the new laws where there is the opportunity to go for the try line with a catch and drive. Sadly, the chance went as the throw went too long and a great opportunity was lost. To make matters worse, Raiders' continued infringements allowed Worthing another penalty chance, although this time McLean missed.

Raiders' poor ball retention and offloading under pressure continued to let them down and eventually they gifted Worthing their first try. A knock-on led to the home side running the ball out wide where they split the Raiders defensive line for Jack Forrest to glide into the corner. McLean missed the conversion but it was now 11-0, soon to be 16.

Yet again the Raiders ball handling let themselves down and this time the home team shifted the ball out wide for Will Scholes to romp home.

As the half time whistle blew Worthing looked good for their lead and unsurprisingly a buoyant Worthing came out hard from the kick off, spinning the ball out wide only to be stung by an interception by Raiders new man Charlie Davis who had a free run in to score Guernsey's first try of the new season. Thomas added the conversion and the visitors were back in the game.

Guernsey then enjoyed a really good purple patch, the pack scrummaging clearly the stronger with substitute Sam Steventon shining in the arts of forward dominance. Penalty after penalty by the home pack eventually paid off for the Raiders and Owen Thomas dived in for the try line with the Worthing defence on his back. Thomas also kicked the conversion and it was 16-14.

To their disappointment, though, straight from the kick off, Raiders' handling of the restart cost them dearly. Worthing pounced on the ball, spun it out wide only and it required Doug Horrocks to save the day with a intervention. But the clearance allowed the home side another golden opportunity to run the ball out wide and the home winger, Jerome Rudders, handed off Armstrong in going over for the score. This time McLean slotted over in front of the posts: 23-14.

Raiders were not finished though. They continued to dominate the game and were rewarded with a penalty, Thomas obliging for a 23-17 scoreline. Further Raiders attacks and following and a catch and drive attack Steventon dived over the line unopposed. Thomas missed the conversion which would have put them ahead for the first time and soon enough yet another McLean penalty for Worthing increased their score to 26-22.

The outcome was still in the balance and when Raiders were awarded their own penalty they went for the catch and drive in the Worthing 22. A clean take by Brad Webb somehow became stolen by Worthing, who ran up the park and to safety. Further phases of play later, Jack Forrest sliced through the Raiders defence to score under the post. McLean converted for a thirds time and Raiders' brave recovery had been halted once and for all.

Reynolds stopped short of saying he was happy with the performance, but in the circumstances - new team, a long time without a competitive fixture - he saw enough to encourage him. 'In all fairness our handling was pretty poor in post-contact and because of that we didn't get into the flow of the game, however we weren't angry afterwards and if we can fix those parts we will be OK. We have just got to eradicate those mistakes.'