Box pining for home Siam

FORGET the last two league games, this is the Siam Cup. That was Rob Box's message as he put his players through their final preparations for tomorrow's annual battle with Jersey.

Although the Guernsey coach would ideally like his side to show a Siam intensity in every game they play, he knows that the inter-insular clash is something special.

And that is why he believes the disappointing end of what was otherwise an excellent London Four South-West campaign, when Guernsey suffered successive defeats to Old Reigatian and Dorking, will have no effect on his squad's morale.

'The Siam is the one-off game of the year. These guys will be so much more up for it than other games,' said Box.

'As a coach, I wish that was not the case because we could have won a trophy already this year. Instead we have won a league trophy one year and got promoted the next.

'For the first week after Dorking, the guys were understandably down, but we sat down, talked about it and we moved on.

As Box talked, so his players started their warm-up before their penultimate training session and by the large number of the throng and the passion in their work, it was obvious that the big game of the season was upon them. There was no suggestion of them simply going through the motions.

'Selection has been a nightmare, but a good one to have in terms of the number of players being desperate to play,' said the coach.

'My hardest job has been selecting the back row because I have got so many good players vying for places there, such as Matt Morgan, Jim Regnard, Ben Mahy, Dave Willis and Darren Jones.

'They could all do a good job and I have to disappoint some of them.'

Box has plumped for the combination of Morgan, Regnard and Jones with Mahy and Willis on a seven-strong bench.

But in a slight tactical switch, Regnard will take the number eight shirt with Morgan playing as flanker.

Elsewhere, the major talking point comes behind the scrum with the South African half-back combination of the returning Willoughby Bloem and debutant TJ Smid.

Of the latter, Box said: 'He is the kind of number 10 I have been looking for. I think he will cause Jersey problems because he is an unknown entity and he can surprise you all the time.

'TJ has been training with us for quite some time now, but we could not get him registered for the league because of the cut-off date. He is tough and has got a good boot on him.'

Unfortunately, two stalwarts of the GRUFC are unavailable for selection. Prop Dave McGall is away while Andy Bailey continues to recover from his injury.

'The biggest hit to me is losing Andy Bailey on the wing. He always plays well and usually scores in Siams and we have been a bit disorientated without him,' Box said.

Zac Ferbrache will play in place of Bailey with Jim Elliott reverting to his best position of full-back.

Box has ensured that he has covered all areas on the bench this year after the disappointment of 12 months ago when the loss of Lloyd-Jones to injury caused an imbalance to the team when a possible upset was on the cards.

'Last year was a big eye-opener for me and I have thought about the game a lot more this year, studied all the videos of Jersey and am generally better prepared for the challenge,' the coach said.

Just as we have caught them, they have gone up another level and will be favourites again, justifiably so because they are doing things right. But we never think that we will not win, otherwise there would be no point in turning up.'

However, if there is one thing that frustrates Box, it is that neither of his two Siams in charge has been at Foote's Lane.

'When you see what crowds we get for a league game, I don't know how many supporters we would have had for a Siam. We would have loved to have played here - these guys cannot wait to play in front of their home crowd against Jersey.

'The way I look at it, though, is that it would be nice to beat them there and then again here next year.'