Leader Lewis becomes member of 200 Club

In a week which began with the revelation that the Veamatahau twins had suddenly cut their stay with the Guernsey Rugby Club short to be paid to play in Peterborough, it gave head coach Jordan Reynolds much more satisfaction yesterday to be able to pay tribute to his on-field leader as Hillier prepares to join the ‘200 club’.

‘It’s been a pleasure to see him transition from when he first got here, as a player and a person, to move into a more dominant role on the park and also more senior role in the club,’ Reynolds said.

‘A lot of others could use Lewis as a blueprint for having a huge amount of drive to succeed, replicating your desire in performances and then taking on a leadership role in the team.’

Guernsey’s ‘200 Club’ is fairly exclusive.

Second row Hillier is only the fourth of tomorrow’s starting tight five to reach the milestone with local academy products Tom Ceillam, Layton Batiste and Nick Merrien having already achieved the feat.

Merrien returns to the side having made a try-scoring appearance for Vikings last week.

As reported earlier in the week, Tom Teasdale is back from injury to make up for the loss of one of the twins as part of a backline reshuffle.

Anthony Armstrong will play on the wing outside his younger brother Matt while Joe Andresen shifted to fullback with Owen Thomas back at fly-half.

While prop Jacob Pinkney will miss the game due to the wrist injury he sustained in last week’s win at Bedford Athletics, hopes are growing that he did not suffer a fracture, although that is yet to be confirmed.

Raiders, who are six points behind Wimbledon, are looking to maintain second position in the table ahead of their visit to the leaders on Saturday 7 December.

‘Rochford’s loss at home to Stags last week was definitely a bonus as, firstly, it makes our loss at Rochford obsolete now, but the big thing is it shows all these sides are capable on their day,’ Reynolds said.

‘We got a scare at Bedford ourselves that afternoon, so we did not need the result at Rochford to remind us how tight this competition is.

‘At your best you can beat teams pretty well, but if you’re not then these sides will come after you.

‘Sidcup have had some really good wins and although they have slipped up a couple of times lately, we know we will be in for another tough match,’ he added of the eighth-placed outfit.

n Raiders v. Sidcup kicks off at 3pm tomorrow at Footes Lane and is the first game in a double-header with Guernsey Raiders Ladies v. Streatham-Croydon following on at 5pm.