Flu bug hits greens

INJURY worries forced Rob Box to delay selecting his side for tomorrow's trip to Petersfield. Several of the Guernsey side that drew with Old Reigatian last Saturday, including Steven Thomas, Paul Livesey and Barry Goude, missed training on Tuesday with various ailments and the coach was waiting for updates last night.

A flu bug within the camp has not helped him this week.

Box has, though, made it clear that reputations and a player's word that he is okay will not be enough; he wants them to prove their fitness at training before he considers them for selection.

It is only a month since the Sarnians last played Petersfield and on that occasion they were comfortable 55-7 winners at Foote's Lane.

However, Box acknowledged that his side had to forget that result because the Hampshire club usually provided tough opposition with their big forward pack.

And, of course, Guernsey are coming off the back of dropping their first London Four South-West point of the season when their own form was unimpressive.

'I do not want to make excuses. The reason we did not win was because they were a good side. They were a tidy outfit who stuck together in the forwards and had a decent set of backs,' Box said of the 14-all draw with Old Reigatian.

But he added that he had to contend with difficulties in preparing his side for tough battles due to necessary player rotation and a current lack of suitable training facilities.

'We had a lot of changes in the team, which is going to happen with people coming to and leaving the island regularly,' the coach said.

'Also, that was a very physical contact game of rugby and it is so hard to train for contact rugby on AstroTurf.

'Complacency is going to come in on that part of the game if we cannot even undertake basic contact drills in training.

'They are facts as to why this team can progress only if things happen to remedy those problems.'

Word is that the club is hoping to have a floodlit grass area available to it in the near future.