‘Silverware would be a nice way to end historic season’

Any opposing defender standing in his way when the Raiders prop gets motoring on one of his trademark bulldozing runs upfield might beg to differ, though.

Since his arrival on the island in the summer of 2016, the 25-year-old accountant has been one of Guernsey’s most consistent performers and one of the major driving forces behind their promotion to National Two this season.

Now he has Jersey in his sights and, with a big grin, he says ‘it would be nice’ to get his hands on the Siam Cup tomorrow.

He added that with the team’s focus having been on their promotion push all year, it has relieved them of some of the usual pressure on the approach to a Siam as it has not been on their minds.

‘I was here last season and you know how it is, everyone’s passionate about the Siam – I completely get it, you don’t start to understand it until you play in it and it means a lot to everyone – but it has taken a bit of the pressure off I think,’ said Steventon of the league campaign that culminated in last week’s win over Bournemouth in the promotion play-off.

‘We were confident all the way through the year, so I think it has brought us back to that point where we can go out and be confident in our ability to put our game together.

‘It’s not dependent on just playing Jersey and defending Jersey. We can go and do what we want to do – a bit like last year, but I’m hoping for a victory this time.’

Steventon made his Siam debut in last year’s 20-18 defeat at St Peter, where Kenny Hellier’s last-kick-of-the-game conversion attempt, which would have earned Guernsey a draw, drifted agonisingly just wide of the posts.

The prop is confident that, on home soil, Raiders can turn the tables on Jersey this time around and lift the Siam Cup for the first time in a decade.

‘The plan is going to be go out there, do what we do, there’s no question about that, but in terms of preparation obviously there’s a lot of tired bodies,’ Steventon said.

‘It’s been a long season, we had been very fortunate with injuries but we have picked a few up towards the end, which isn’t ideal, but you’ve got to play with what you’ve got so it’s a pretty irrelevant fact.

‘We’ll just go out there, play our game and I think that will be enough to be honest.’

It is with a smile that Steventon admitted his head was a little fuzzy on Monday morning after the celebrations following the play-off win, but it is with relish that he looks back upon the ultimately successful London & South-East Premier campaign.

‘It [promotion] was well won. We’d earned it over the season. We trailed off a little bit towards the end to make it more exciting.

‘It’s been pretty much with the same players as last year apart from Doug [Horrocks], who has obviously been a great addition, and Anthony [Armstrong] as a regular – it’s been quite nice to watch him run around doing freakish stuff and not have to defend against him.

‘It has been a thoroughly enjoyable season. Speaking to some of the old boys, they know it’s just a great bunch of guys who go out there and play for each other, which is kind of the ideal hobby really isn’t it?’

More specifically referring to the front row where he plies his trade, Steventon added that having strength in depth in that position and the ability to rotate during matches has been beneficial.

‘Last year it was me and Layton [Batiste] pretty much putting out 80min. performances, but we are a different weight class in there to be fair,’ he said with another chuckle.

‘But it is nice to be able to go out and train with different people – you can learn from each other, you can bounce off each other.

‘People like Charlie [Currie] – a good rugby player, knows a lot, but is still young so it’s really promising for the next couple of years.

‘Personally, I know Tommy Rae [Ceillam] is one of the best hookers I have ever played with at any level,’ he added.

Steventon has played as high as National One level before so he has an idea of what Guernsey should expect next season when they make the step up to the fourth tier of the RFU leagues.

He believes Raiders have to be realistic in their expectations.

‘It’s going to be a completely different game,’ said Steventon.

‘Quite a lot of our players haven’t been there and that will show at certain points, but there are some teams in that league who will have depth in numbers, the size and physicality and the wallet to put most teams out of it.

‘You saw it this season with [champions] Chinnor – huge wallet, big players, great depth and it pays off over the season.

‘I think for us it’s going to be concentration on prehabilitation, making sure the bodies are ready for the step up, but I’m looking forward to it.’

Before that, though, there is the little matter of the Siam tomorrow.

n The Siam Cup match kicks off at 2.45pm tomorrow. Before that, as well as the Women’s Siam, there is the Nash Cup veterans’ match on the old club pitch at 10.45am and the Fallaize Cup second-team match at 12.15pm on the main pitch.