A baptism of fire but Raiders not downbeat

However, Guernsey coach Jordan Reynolds was quick to emphasise that the 59-5 scoreline in defeat away to Old Albanian did not tell the whole story on the day his side made their debut at Level Four of the RFU league ladder.

‘For the first 30 minutes we were the dominant side, and that was really good,’ he said.

‘Before half-time we had six lineouts in their 22 and we missed every one of them – maybe the occasion got to us then because as soon as we had a catch-and-drive opportunity in the second half we scored from it.

‘We only had to score a couple of those chances in the first half and I feel we would have been in the hunt.

‘At the end of the day, Old Albanian were definitely worth the win for sure, but I wouldn’t read too much into the score because we were depleted, we played a lot of young guys, that was our first taste of Level Four rugby and they fed off our mistakes.

‘What we need to do is to try and limit that and it’s about how quickly we can learn.’

As well as missing several regulars, Raiders also paid the price for twice being reduced to 14 men due to yellow cards, the first to newcomer Elia Morisio and the second to try-scorer Dom Rice.

‘Defensively, especially in the first half, we did really well but they scored four tries in that first yellow-card period then three in the second – only two of their tries came when we had 15 on the field,’ Reynolds said.

• Picture special in Monday's Guernsey Press.