St Jacques coach makes no excuses after defeat

CHRIS GRIFFITHS has tipped Jersey Seconds to win the J Promail JRA League. The St Jacques coach made the prediction after his side were beaten 46-3 at KGV by the Caesarean outfit.

'We knew that after last year's 0-0 match Jersey would bring a very strong side over to make sure they beat us this time around and that is exactly what they did,' Griffiths said.

'There are simply no excuses to give. They are by far the strongest team in this league and I fully expect them to go on to win it, possibly unbeaten.

'They have let only 19 points past them and scored 227 in six matches this season in the league and that tells you how well they are playing. I believe they are looking into joining Hampshire One next season and I think they could do well there.'

Even before the match kicked off the Jersey team gained the upper hand by forcing St Jacques to wear their away strip at home as they also wear an all black strip.

The hosts initially made a bright start and attacked the Jersey 22 but were soon kicked back into their own half where a 15-minute barrage of black shirts continued to try and break the home team's defence mostly encamped within their own 22.

The breakthrough finally came from a line-out on the 5m line which eventually led to a rumbling forwards try. The conversion was missed.

A further five minutes into the game and St Jacques showed some fight and eventually won a penalty 30 yards out, which Tom Chamberlain coolly slotted home.

With the score at just 5-3 after a quarter of the match had gone, it looked as if it might end up as close an encounter as last year.

However, that was as good as it was going to get for the home team.

From the restart after the penalty, Jersey unleashed their very quick back line and simply ripped the defence apart to score a try in reply: again the two points were missed.

At 10-3, unfortunately there was no reply from the home team and after a couple more well taken tries in open play from the visiting backs, Jersey went into the break 22-3 up.

The second half was much the same and although St Jacques fought on bravely till the final whistle, the skill level and pace of the away team were simply too much to contain.

'From our point of view it is crucial that we bounce back from this defeat as we have a game against Beeches away in Jersey on Sunday,' said Griffiths.

'We shouldn't be too disheartened by our performance as Jersey have inflicted heavier defeats on other teams this season. Hopefully, we can learn something from this game and it may actually benefit us to have played such a hard game before we play Beeches.

'There were some positives to take from the game, in particular an inspiring 15 minutes from young substitute Kieran McSwiggan who came off the bench and made three superb try-saving tackles, which I hope will give him confidence for his next game.

'It's all about the guys enjoying their rugby and learning to improve and if just one player improves in every game, then we know we are still heading in the right direction.'

n GUERNSEY Seconds enjoyed more success in Jersey as they defeated Les Quennevais to move up to second in the table.

A strong team performance and a man-of-the-match debut from Benny van Vuuren secured a 21-10 away win.

A Steve Mee penalty midway through the first half gave the hosts the lead but also spurred Guernsey into life and they scored the first try through fullback van Vuuren after a neat move in the centre.

Before half-time, young flanker Robin Le Cocq extended the lead with a fine individual efffort, breaking through three tackles before touching down.

Carl Gardner converted both tries.

In the second half, dynamic scrum half Divon Crouse made a welcome return to action having broken his collarbone in October.

The South African scored his side's third try, made by van Vuuren's break and some neat handling from Jason Batiste and Gardner. The latter added the extra points.

With 10 minutes remaining, the Sharks finally broke the Guernsey defence as Nathan Jegou barged over and Mee converted, but that was the end of the scoring as Rollo de Sausmarez made a try-saving tackle shortly after the restart.

'Our defence won the game for us because Les Quennevais threw everything at us in the second half and we repelled wave after wave of their attacks,' said Guernsey captain Alec Bailey.

'Credit to all the boys for digging in for most of the second half. We kept our heads and just defended very well.'

Guernsey now face back-to-back games with United Jersey Banks, starting at Foote's Lane on Saturday.

n ANDY BAILEY has admitted that Cobham's first defeat of the season did Guernsey no favours.

The London Three South-West leaders lost 12-6 at second-placed Purley John Fisher on Saturday, meaning that Guernsey now lie three points behind both teams. Cobham have a game in hand on the other two.

'It was probably a bad result for us because if Purley John Fisher had lost, we would have been closer to second,' Bailey said.

'But maybe the result has opened up the league a bit. One loss could certainly turn to two for Cobham.

'The important thing is for us to keep winning as many of our games as possible and see where that gets us come the end of the season.

'The next match in two weeks is away to Tottonians, who are fourth, and that will be another tough one.'

Both Cobham and Purley John Fisher still have to visit Foote's Lane this season.