Guernsey dig deep to share the points

Guernsey 14, Old Reigatian 14

GUERNSEY maintained their unbeaten record on Saturday - just. In a titanic battle against quality opposition in Old Reigatian at Foote's Lane on a perfect day for rugby, a draw was as much as the home side deserved. But, to their credit, the Sarnians showed a great deal of character after the break to earn a point because they had been undoubtedly second best in the first half as Rob Box admitted afterwards.

'Just watching Old Reigatian warm up, I could tell they meant business. They came here to get a positive result and I am grateful that they got a draw rather than a win,' said the Guernsey coach.

'In the first half we gave a performance that if we were playing away, I would have said we were still on the plane. We were half asleep, lethargic.

'In that first half, I would say we deserved to lose the game. In the second half, we came back into it, showed a lot of determination and got something from the game. A draw was a fair result,' added Box.

Old Reigatian made their intentions and their capabilities clear in the opening seconds of the game at the first scrum.

The visiting pack put a mighty shove on their Guernsey counterparts, driving them backwards and issuing quite a warning.

At the reset, Guernsey responded well but ORs held the upper hand in that particular aspect of the game throughout, as they emphasised at the start of the move that led to the opening score.

Eleven minutes had gone when the hosts lost a scrum against the head on halfway and then missed a couple of tackles as ORs kept it tight initially, meaning Guernsey had to commit more players to the ball than they would have liked.

Their opponents took full advantage by spreading the ball wide through several pairs of hands and left winger Mathew Lowe went over in the corner - a cracking score.

Guernsey briefly reduced the deficit to just two points when Lee Whatman, who took over the kicking duties from Stuart Lloyd-Jones because of the fly-half's ankle problem, slotted over a penalty but ORs responded immediately as captain Nicholas Siegle knocked over three points of his own.

But the vital moment of the half came on 25min. when ORs worked the blind side from a ruck on halfway and Lowe was away. However, as all good flankers do, Ben Mahy covered brilliantly to chase down the winger and bundle him out of play just yards from the line. It was a tackle that not only saved a try, but arguably kept Guernsey in the game.

The visitors continued the pressure though and Siegle added two more penalties in the space of four minutes.

At 14-3 down, Guernsey were desperate for a score before the break and it came in injury time.

With the lineout functioning well, captain Carl Johnson asked Lloyd-Jones to pump a penalty into the right corner. Paul Thomas found his number two jumper Joubert Thompson comfortably and the ball was worked left.

Full-back Jim Elliott, who was a contender for Guernsey's man-of-the-match along with the hooker, intelligently left a high pass that seemed intended for him and it found Paul Livesey, who raced round his marker and went over in the corner.

Although the conversion just missed, the green-and-whites had the morale boost they needed going into the second half and it showed in their intensity after the turnaround.

Siegle missed a couple of penalty chances early in the second period, but Guernsey were much improved and when Alex West was sin-binned for a professional foul, they took advantage with Whatman slotting over two penalties within that 10 minutes to tie things up.

They continued to hold the edge for the remainder of the game but ORs defence was absolutely superb and it held the hosts at bay.

With two minutes left, though, Guernsey were given the chance to snatch a win when a tackler was penalised for not rolling away after Lloyd-Jones made a break, but Whatman's effort drifted agonisingly wide. In fairness, that would have been a get-out-of-jail card the hosts did not deserve although Box had a word of sympathy for Whatman.

'It was unlucky for poor Lee because he is not the regular kicker. I liken it to a boxer who has the guts to get in the ring and give it his best when he is totally isolated. We knew Stuart's ankle was not right, he felt it in the first kick, and Lee stepped up and said ?I will give it a go?. Fair play to him for that,' Box said.

At the final whistle, the OR players celebrated their excellent result although they later admitted it could have been even better.

'It was a great game but we are a bit gutted in the end,' said impressive fly half James Espin.

'In the first half we felt we had them, but then we took our foot off the gas a bit and Guernsey showed why they are top of the league.

'Our preparations went really well before and we obviously noticed the lovely facilities here and people play rugby for this sort of environment - basically, you produce good rugby because of it,' he added.