Ninth straight loss but Box's boys inching closer

Jersey 32, Guernsey 22

THE gap is closing. Jersey, once again the big favourites going into Saturday's Siam Cup lash at St Peter, may have won the beautiful old trophy for a ninth successive time, but how they were made to work for it.

At the end of a glorious season, Guernsey put in a performance which they can be proud of and the bitter disappointment felt by the players at the final whistle speaks volumes for how much they have progressed this campaign.

This time last year the Sarnians failed to score a single point against Jersey.

Twelve months later they had come within 10 of the Caesareans for the first time since they won the Cup in 1995 and had scored four tries in the process - matching the hosts in that statistic.

That was a fine end to a superb season, as coach Rob Box acknowledged.

'It is fantastic. We set our stall out to win the league and compete with Jersey in the Siam and I think we did more than that. I thought we matched them,' he said.

'I am so proud of all the boys. They all played brilliantly. It is just a shame we are just not quite ready to beat them yet.

'Jersey have that final little thing to their game, I don't know what it is, that gave them the edge in the end.'

The start was quite ominous for the Sarnians.

Stuart Lloyd-Jones showed straight away that he was on song with a fine early clearance to halfway but from the line-out, Jersey put on an immense catch and drive that pushed Guernsey back to deep in their own 22.

The green-and-whites had to concede a couple of penalties in the left corner, which the hosts decided to tap, but the defence stood firm and finally forced a red knock-on.

Guernsey then showed their attacking potential.

The outstanding Velde van der Merwe launched a long punt down field which bounced awkwardly for his opposite number, Mark White, and captain Carl Johnson kicked the ball on towards the line, but was beaten to it by the covering Gareth Jeffreys.

That was the first sign of Jeffreys' blistering pace, which would soon become more prominent at the other end of the field.

But suddenly a promising match turned unsavoury in the 11th minute.

A mass brawl started on halfway, apparently originating from an incident involving Jersey Richie Griffiths and one of the Guernsey pack, and within seconds there were punches being thrown by virtually every player on the pitch.

Those who went in to try and separate some of the protagonists ended up getting dragged into the melee as the officials did their best to calm everyone down.

After a couple of minutes, order was restored and Paul Kimber, the referee from Hampshire, sent Griffiths to the bin along with colleague Josh Chamier and the Guernsey skipper.

Even with a one-man disadvantage, Jersey produced the next scoring chance with a fine break to the right where Jeffreys joined the attack and got around van der Merwe, but Matt Morgan came from nowhere to produce a remarkable last-ditch tackle.

But that move began a decent period of sustained pressure from the home side and they eventually broke through on the half-hour.

Unsurprisingly, it was Jeffreys, now back on his left wing, who touched down, after cutting back inside when White had fed him a fine pass out of the tackle. The full-back converted.

Guernsey did not let their heads drop, though, and within eight minutes they had scored a try of their own.

The Sarnian pack, in their own 22, put an enormous shove on a Jersey scrum and Morgan broke from the back and launched an enormous kick down field.

Andy Bailey produced an excellent chase to put pressure on both winger James Milner and White and as the Jersey pair failed to deal with the danger, Iain Johnston nipped in to touch down to make the half-time deficit just two points.

With Steve Hale having already come on for Jason Mroch, Guernsey made a couple more substitutions at the break with Jim Elliott replacing Paul Livesey and Graham Hards coming on for Jock Quesnel, who had suffered a knock in the first half.

But the visitors were guilty of falling asleep within the opening two minutes of the second half and Jersey lock Matt Banahan produced a gem of a run, full of strength and speed, to score under the posts.

White converted and five minutes later added a penalty to make it 17-5. Suddenly, it was looking like a stroll in the park for Jersey.

But Guernsey hit back with a vengeance.

Morgan produced a trademark run on the short side from a scrum on halfway that got the greens deep into Jersey territory. The ball was quickly fed out to the left through Johnson and van der Merwe for Bailey to score in the corner.

White added another penalty soon after but with a quarter of the game remaining, Guernsey closed to within three.

Van der Merwe made a great break down the left before he unfortunately tripped just yards from the line. The opportunity was still there though with a big overlap on the right and it was Bailey who appeared once more to apply the finishing touch.

Lee Whatman added the conversion with Lloyd-Jones having gone down injured in the build up to the try.

The influential fly-half was not to return, perhaps crucially because moments later the visitors had the opportunity to level the scores with a penalty that Lloyd-Jones would have been confident of making. A brave Whatman stepped up to try his luck but saw his kick rebound off a post.

With 10 minutes remaining, Jersey struck a killer blow.

Guernsey were penalised for a high tackle close to their own line and from the resultant line-out, Jersey again put on the catch and drive with replacement front rower John Larose getting the touch down.

A few minutes later Jersey had a penalty in a similar position and this time took the quick tap and passed to captain Ian Henderson who barged over. White made his fifth successful kick at goal from seven attempts and Jersey were home and dry at 32-17.

Deep into stoppage time, Guernsey got the fourth try their efforts deserved though.

Morgan was again the starting point, drawing several defenders towards him as he powered towards the line before Whatman and Alec Bailey fed the ball out to Johnston on the left to score his second try.

'If we had been able to play like we did in the second half in the first half, it might have been a different story. Once we got a platform working in the second half, we looked dangerous. But all credit to Jersey. They managed to play for the whole 80 minutes.' said Johnson.

His counterpart, Henderson, believes that with Guernsey's promotion from Hampshire One, it should be an even tighter contest next year.

'It was a heck of a game. Both teams finished their league seasons strongly and were both high on confidence,' he said.

'I did think right after half-time their defence went to sleep, but all credit to them, they tightened their game up and deserved their tries.'