Jersey come up against wall of Guernsey granite

Jersey 8, Guernsey 17THIS is becoming a wonderful habit. Perhaps Guernsey should request that St Peter host all Siam Cups in future because, as a grinning GRUFC chairman Ady Le Page said after watching his heroic players win back the beautiful trophy, 'we just seem to do better over here'.

To a man, those in green-and-white were immense in a typically intense clash between the two old foes.

In fairness to the Jersey camp, they had emphasised beforehand that in this annual encounter, league status counts for nothing and they were proved right as the visitors stood up to their hosts from a division above and deservedly came away with the spoils.

In contrast to their apprehensive performance at Foote's Lane 12 months earlier, there was an almost surprising composure to Guernsey throughout - a total belief that they were playing against equals and not their superiors. As for their determination, it was off the chart.

Admittedly, Jersey enjoyed more possession and the territorial advantage for much of the opening half but seldom did they pose any great threat as they came up against a Guernsey granite defensive wall.

The home side were not helped by the sixth-minute loss of Dave Miles to injury, which caused a reshuffle, with winger Ryan Morgan moving to scrum half. As it turned out, Morgan was one of his team's best players, reverting to a role he previously played regularly as a junior a couple of years ago.

Two minutes later, Jersey took the lead thanks to the boot of Mark White as Guernsey conceded a penalty in front of the posts 30 yards out, but the game failed to settle as the cagey and scrappy opening lasted for the majority of the half.

The one occasion that the hosts had seemingly breached the Guernsey defence came on 25 minutes.

With an overlap on the left, White delayed his pass until Jim Elliott had no option but to move in for the tackle on the centre, who offloaded to fullback and captain Steve O'Brien.

Nathan Kemp then took over just a couple of metres from the line and attempted to power over, but the covering Cameron Patten did fantastically to put his body between the ball and the ground and hold up the big New Zealander.

That one moment lifted Guernsey and knocked Jersey backwards.

White missed his second penalty attempt soon afterwards and, after the unfortunate Dave McGall had to leave the action with his nose rearranged having been thumped, the visitors took the lead 13min. into first-half injury time.

A penalty was taken quickly by Jim Regnard, who was stopped only because the defenders had not retreated the required distance.

From the subsequent penalty, again taken with a tap, a ruck formed just a couple of yards short of the Jersey line and when Rob Brazier fed Jordan Reynalds, a little dummy gave him all the room he needed to get through the gap and touch down. Nick Barton added an excellent conversion and rather than just being in the game at half-time, the green-and-whites were leading it.

Jersey reshuffled their pack during the break, but after the turnaround, Guernsey were in the ascendancy as their confidence grew with every passing minute.

Reynalds was having arguably his most assured game for the club as he orchestrated proceedings expertly, helped by a powerful display from the pack who were well led by Peter Miers.

For Jersey, their big players were having little impact - probably because Regnard and co. wanted it that way.

Miers came close to extending the lead when he charged down Jamie Allan's attempted clearance, but they did not have to wait long for their next try.

A persistent period of pressure resulted in a line out five metres from the Jersey line after O'Brien had been bundled into touch as he defended Darren Jones's cheeky chip intended for Andy Bailey to chase.

At that set piece, the combination of Laurence Hill-Tout to Miers worked perfectly and although the initial push ended just short of the line, Jones was on hand to pick up and spin over it. The nerveless Barton made it 14-3 and the many Guernsey fans were daring to dream.

Jersey needed a quick response and they got it.

For five minutes they pressurised the Guernsey line until Graham Bell eventually forced his way over to narrow the gap to six points.

Guernsey, though, were not for breaking.

They went straight to the other end, stole a Jersey line out through Miers and forced a penalty out wide on the right.

Barton must have been feeling invincible now because he had no hesitation in accepting the three points and kicked them in casual fashion.

What was to follow for the remaining 25 minutes was a brilliant defensive display to rival any other.

Every Guernsey player put their body on the line for the cause and it was almost as if they fed off the anxiety in the Jersey crowd, who could only watch while their side looked bereft of ideas.

Leading the way for the visitors was Dan Taylor-Edwards.

The smallest man on the pitch was a giant in his tackling. No one in a red shirt was spared by the Kiwi centre.

Wave after wave of Jersey attacks were repelled, almost with disdain by the end, and just when Jason Hosty thought he had finally breeched the defence, referee Steve Harland noticed that he lost control of the ball as he went for the line.

How demoralising it must have been for the hosts to turn and see Reynalds's clearance from the resulting scrum sail into touch on halfway.

The one blot on Guernsey's copybook came two minutes from time when Russ Roberts was sin-binned for a 'professional foul' in killing the ball, but that was not about to dampen the spirits for a squad who got exactly what they deserved - to look after the second oldest trophy in rugby (or a replica at least) for the next year.

'That defence was awesome,' said the towering Regnard, whose father made the trip over from the west country on his birthday to watch his son give him a great present.

'That score just before half-time lifted us. We knew all along we would not be broken - we were calm and confident.

'The team bond we have is phenomenal,' he added.

An understandably disappointed O'Brien spoke admirably in defeat.

'I have to admit, the better team won,' said the Jersey captain.

'The early reshuffle did affect us, but we still did not play to anything like our game plan or to our potential.

'Fair play to Guernsey - they got to the rucks in numbers whereas we were getting there in ones and twos. Guernsey dominated us in that area and if you have no platform, you cannot play rugby.'