Guernsey Press

Thomas softens blow of loss No. 11

AN ENCOURAGING return to action from Owen Thomas softened the blow of an 11th straight defeat for Guernsey Raiders on Saturday.

Published
Owen Thomas offloads as he returns to action for Raiders against Bury St Edmunds at Footes Lane. (Picture by Adrian Miller, 23534144)

In-form Bury St Edmunds won a hard-fought contest 27-19 at Footes Lane with the hosts unfortunate to finish with nothing to show for the efforts, but coach Jordan Reynolds was far from downbeat and was delighted to see his first-choice fly-half Thomas make a big impact having come off the bench at half-time.

‘It does make a big difference,’ Reynolds said.

‘We have been a bit rudderless and that’s no one’s fault, the guys who came in are doing their best, but you can see we had a lot of direction out there.’

The introduction of Thomas visibly lifted those around him and, with Tom Ceillam having scored both first-half tries for Raiders, the Welsh No. 10 created the third try for Elia Morisio, who moved from 10 to 12 at the break and enjoyed one of his best games since joining Guernsey.

‘Elia had a really good carrying game today and he is under pressure playing 10 because he is not a 10 and I think he has copped a little bit of flak unjustly, but today when he got out to his channels where he can run he had a good game so hopefully we can get that working.

‘We played well in parts, they did knock us around a bit, and I thought the parts that happened after that – probably the last 25min. of each half – we started sticking it to them, which was good.

‘Once again, I think we are playing some good rugby but we are missing opportunities.’

  • Match report in Monday's Guernsey Press.