Raiders' big guns back for Hertford

Fifth-placed Guernsey currently trail Hertford by nine points in National Three London & South-East, but they visit the team placed directly above them this weekend so can cut the gap to as few as four.

To do so, they will have to avenge the 31-17 defeat they suffered against Hertford in October.

'We were pretty disappointed, the last time we played them, to ship 17 points early on so we struggled to catch them by the end,' said Raiders coach Jordan Reynolds.

'Since then, though, we have fixed a lot of things that were wrong in that game, particularly defensively.'

Guernsey are coming off the back of a 30-25 defeat away to Dorking last Saturday, which was a rearranged fixture that deprived Raiders of the vast majority of their first-choice backline.

Reynolds, who also missed that game himself while he was furthering his coaching education by spending a week with Doncaster Knights of the Championship, is able to recall influential half-back pairing Adam Nixon and Owen Thomas to his starting XV this week, while Malcolm Barnes makes his first appearance since December, coming in at inside centre in the absence of both Ned Brown and Blair Campbell.

With Jason Batiste and Luke Sayer also unavailable, Sam Whitehead reverts to full-back having played fly half at Dorking while young Callum Gladstone starts on the wing.

Guernsey Raiders team

Steventon, Ceillam, Batiste, Hillier, Merrien, Hill, Mercadal, M. Thomas, Nixon, O. Thomas, Barnes, Jones, Martin, Gladstone, Whitehead. Replacements: Craine, Skovronek, Newson.

• More in Friday’s Guernsey Press.