‘Guernsey must carry the favourites tag’
A TONGAN international has been named in their team by Jersey, who are playing the underdog card for Saturday’s Siam Cup.
Powerhouse No. 8 Uili Kolo’ofa’i, who has eight caps for his country, will don the Reds shirt for the final time at Footes Lane.
Hooker Nick Selway will captain the side as Jersey aim to extend their winning run to 10 in a row, although coach Myles Landick believes the changes to eligibility criteria in recent times and Guernsey’s successful season that saw them gain promotion to National Two last weekend makes the home side the favourites.
‘Should we get the win it will definitely be our best win in at least 10 years,’ he said. ‘It will be one of our toughest games for quite a while, but we’re going to give it our best shot.’
The current agreement between the clubs allows Jersey to pick up to five professional players providing they have three years’ residency in the island, but of those players, last year’s winning captain Joel Dudley is ruled out through injury and Brendan Cope is preparing for a move to Yorkshire Carnegie.
‘Joel would have been fantastic for us,’ Landick added. ‘And Copey is eligible but moving on and focusing on that, which is fine. Other than that, I think the only one missing is Ed Howgate, who’s away.
‘Uili has been really good to us from the start and hopefully this is something that he’ll thrive on. A lot of the lads will want to learn off him and just having him in the squad for one week has been great.
‘We’re going into a game against Guernsey away from home and it’s going to be incredibly tough mentally and physically. “Salad” [Selway] and Uili have both played in front of decent-sized crowds and know what it’s like to be under pressure, so hopefully they’ll carry players who haven’t had that experience through.’
Jersey (1-15): George Banks, Nick Selway (capt), Christopher Pople, Euan Spencer, Tom Ellis, Alexander Budd, Tim Corson, Uili Kolo’ofai; Liam Rhodes, Daniel Hawkes, Simon Johnson, William Falle, Nathan Rogers, Adam Spencer, Scott McClurg. Replacements: David Felton, Ewan Davies, George Willmott, Harrison Berresford, Max Harrington, James Dufty, Dom Henstridge.
