Props back to boost hosts

That is how Guernsey director of rugby Jordan Reynolds alluded to the clash with National Two East’s bottom side Westcliff at Footes Lane.

The Essex-based outfit have lost all five of their games so far, but Raiders have won just once themselves and sit just two places above their visitors.

‘They are a team who can get stuck into a dogfight and they have the ability to bring you into their game,’ Reynolds said of Westcliff.

‘They play with a huge amount of desperation and that showed against Bury St Edmunds when they were three tries down and came back to get within a score before conceding again late on.

‘They are a team who are desperate for a win or whatever they can get and that forces your hand to make sure you are consistently on your game throughout the 80 minutes.

‘For us it’s going to be a really tough battle as they probably see us as an immediate threat in terms of relegation.

‘We are in the bottom three, and the bottom two get relegated, so we want to separate the distance between us and them.’

Raiders are boosted by the return of several regulars including props Sam Steventon and Jacob Pinkney, who are reunited with hooker Tom Ceillam in the front row.

In the backs, Ethan Smith, Luke Sayer and Owen Thomas have all be passed fit too.

‘We are talking some good players who can definitely make a difference for us,’ said Reynolds.

‘We had 14 unavailable for the TJs game and it had been the same for a couple of weeks, but we have 10 players back now. I’m not going to start celebrating, but it is better news.’

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Doug Horrocks will miss out this week as, with only two ‘overseas’ players allowed in a match-day squad, Jordan Smiler gets the nod at No. 8.

‘Pinkney, Smiler and Horrocks all count as overseas and with Jacob having not played for a number of weeks, we felt it important that he gets some match minutes.

‘We had a conversation noting the weather and how we want to play and Jordan, being one of our main line-out options, is in because we want to go for three jumpers this time. There was always going to be a natural rotation between him and Doug anyway.’

At the start of the season Reynolds emphasised that the move to a 14-team league and five-match blocks will allow Raiders to reassess where they are every few weeks.

He reported that while the first of those blocks had not produced the points they wanted, the group know they are not far away from turning more games into victories and they just need to ‘have belief from the outset’ of matches.

‘We have had a week off, we reset and we go again. It’s almost like a new season for us – it’s the best way to deal with the structure of the league and these blocks, to turn around and saw what we want out of the next five games.’

Guernsey Raiders v Westcliff kicks off at 2pm tomorrow at Footes Lane.

Raiders team

Steventon, Ceillam, Pinkney, Hillier, Webb, Creber, Dom Rice, Smiler, Simmonds, Davies, Smith, Teasdale, McGann, Armstrong, Sayer. Replacements: Morgan, Bellingham, Burger, O Thomas, Boyland.