Reynalds injury taints eight-try home cruise

Guernsey 51, Old Wimbledonians 5

A WORRYING injury to Jordan Reynalds tempered Guernsey's convincing victory on Saturday. The Australian left the field just before half-time cluching his left shoulder/collarbone before departing Foote's Lane to be examined.

Captain Andy Bailey was optimistic of good news afterwards, joking that as a back Reynalds was looking for the sympathy vote, but to lose the centre for a prolonged period would be a major blow to the green-and-whites.

All in all, however, it was a satisfactory afternoon for the home side, who could have won by a bigger margin.

Old Wimbledonians were certainly courageous and even when more than 40 points behind they managed to put Guernsey under pressure, but the hosts always had plenty in reserve.

'In fairness, Old Wimbledonians did not stop trying, but you could tell we were the better side and when that is the case, to keep your structure is not always easy,' Bailey admitted.

'It was a heart-breaking defeat last week and to come off that and post a 50-point win, let's enjoy it. Yes, there's plenty to work on, but we are pleased to come away with a big win.'

The skipper himself began the rout in only the second minute.

It was a fine display of slick passing from the hosts as the ball moved through seven pairs of hands, with Bailey involved in the build-up before receiving the final pass from Miers and finishing in the corner.

Ten minutes later, Blair Campbell, who was neat and efficient at fly half, set up Jim Elliott for the second try and it was obvious then that the two league points were going to be Guernsey's.

Nick Barton, who had missed two tricky conversion attempts, nailed a long-range penalty from in front of the posts to make it 13-0 before the outstanding Cameron Patten added a third try.

It came from a set backline move from a scrum on halfway, with Elliott providing the dummy run for Reynalds to slice open the defence and then give his countryman a free run to the line.

By now, Guernsey were cruising and, thanks to another strong run from Patten, Barton was given the chance to extend the lead further and he made no mistake with his penalty from the Old Wimbledonians's 22.

A couple of minutes before half-time another set move made it 26-0 as Patten took Reynalds's subtle pop pass on the crash ball and raced towards the visitors' line before offloading to Barry Goude, who handed off the last defender and touched down.

Unfortunately, back on halfway Reynalds was still on the ground having taken a hit and it was a couple of minutes before coach Jon Colley helped him off.

Perhaps with their minds briefly elsewhere, Guernsey's defence was breached for the only time almost immediately from the restart as Old Wimbledonians worked through a couple of phases and fullback David Robertson dived over.

The hosts still had the final say of the half, though, as Barton added his third penalty from 25m out.

Within the first nine minutes of the second period Guernsey had added three more tries thanks to their two flankers.

Darren Jones went over twice, the first try from a misplaced Old Wimbledonians line-out close to their own line and the second from a rolling maul, which was converted by Campbell.

Jones's two scores sandwiched one from Barton, who found himself out on the right wing to finish off a powerful move after the hard yards had been made down the left by Laurence Hill-Tout among others.

With the hosts taking the chance to make some changes, they took their foot off the gas for much of the remainder of the game and seldom threatened another score, James Regnard's amazing solo effort, which ended in him being held up over the line, as the exception.

However, their defence remained firm and their tackling impressive.

They did eventually break the half-century barrier with five minutes remaining, Campbell and Patten setting up Hill-Tout for a deserved try.

'It was a good team performance and we put together some nice moves,' said Bailey, whose aim is to go through the rest of the season unbeaten.

'We cannot worry about anyone else. We will not give up, we will keep playing positive rugby and building on this. It is all about momentum.'