Raiders wait on Thomas – Elliott returns
NIGGLES to three of his backs means that Guernsey Raiders coach Jordan Reynolds won’t confirm his starting XV until tomorrow for the first home game of the season against Sutton & Epsom.
Owen Thomas, outstanding with both boot and ball in hand in the 75-5 destruction of Towcestrians last weekend, is struggling with a tight calf and did not train last night.
‘It’s nothing major – he felt it more the next day,’ said the coach.
But the fact that Thomas finished the game against Towcestrians and it was only afterwards that the muscle tightened up, Reynolds is confident that with an extra day’s rest the No. 10 will start in a team that may well see only two changes – veteran Jim Elliott back in the centres for the work-tied Ned Brown and the long-striding Anthony Armstrong on the wing in place of Dale Martin, who will revert to the back row, where he is equally adept.
Raiders achieved a notable double over the visitors last season, winning 28-12 at Footes Lane and 31-22 away.
But Sutton & Epsom have been busy recruiting since the end of the last campaign in which they finished lower mid-table, five spots behind Raiders.
Full preview in Friday's Guernsey Press.
