Hard-fought victory maintains unbeaten record

KCS Old Boys 11, Guernsey 15

GUERNSEY resisted a stirring performance from KCS Old Boys to maintain a four-point cushion at the top of London Four South-West. Captain Carl Johnson described the intensity of the encounter as 'similar to the draw against Old Reigatian', adding that 'it was one of our hardest games this season'.

KCS had taken a 5-0 lead early on through a mauling try as Guernsey struggled in the opening exchanges.

'Conditions were good but we did not have the best trip over and it took us probably 20-25 minutes to wake up,' said Johnson.

'They were well-drilled and had a good side out. They certainly came out fired up, they had a good rolling maul, did well in the rucks and were pretty strong in the backs. They were up on us very quickly.'

In the final 10 minutes of the half, though, the Sarnians began to get Matt Morgan and Jim Regnard running a bit wider, finding gaps and moving forward.

By half-time, Guernsey were level thanks to an excellent 5m scrum when they pushed KCS back over their own line and Morgan got the touchdown.

'Our scrum was outstanding. They had a lot of put-ins but we really slowed down their set piece ball. We were pushing them back, wheeling it and disrupting them,' Johnson said.

Morgan put Guernsey ahead with his second try after the turnaround. This time it was scored out wide as he and Paul Livesey showed some good handling in exchanging several passes before the big number eight eventually went over.

The home side responded well and regained the lead through a couple of penalties to leave a nerve-racking final eight minutes.

Guernsey's reply came with four minutes left with Steve Thomas and Regnard involved through the centres before Ben Mahy popped up to take the final pass and score.

However, with the clock running down, the referee kept penalising the visitors, which allowed KCS to push for the try they needed by taking quick taps.

'No matter what happened, they got penalty after penalty and we were basically scrambling back. It lasted for about 10 minutes after time was up, but we kept them out,' said Johnson.

'What won us the game in the end was our scrum and good, stout defence.

'It was a close game but we scored three tries to their one early on from a maul. They had a strong backline but they did not score because of our tackling.

'We did not have a great day with the boot - all the tries were unconverted and we missed two penalties - and that put us under more pressure,' he added.

Guernsey now enter an important period with three of their next four games at home against sides in the bottom half of the table, starting with Old Emanuel on Saturday.

'The biggest challenge of the next couple of months will be away to Old Paulines, who are now on their own in fourth,' said Johnson.

'They felt pretty aggrieved with their loss over here and that will be a difficult game, as they all are.'