Battle of the Raiders as Guernsey face Worthing

This time it is the battle of the Raiders as Worthing, who also go by the nickname, visit Footes Lane tomorrow off the back of a 38-20 victory over the then National Two East table-toppers Old Albanian last weekend, which saw them rise to fourth, just one point off top spot.

‘OA went into that game top and with one loss they dropped to fifth – it shows how tight it is,’ said Guernsey director of rugby Jordan Reynolds.

‘That was a bit of a funny game. Worthing got a red card [for a high tackle] within the first 15 minutes, but OA must have had four or five injuries in the backs because they had a couple of forwards in their backline for the majority of the game.

‘Worthing like to play fast and loose, getting the ball out wide, and have got a couple of England Sevens players playing for them, so they made the most of that – show them a weakness and they are going to strike.’

It has proved a tough start to the season for Guernsey, who have already played the other four current top-five clubs in their opening seven games and last week lost 48-19 to promotion favourites Blackheath.

That result that saw their opponents return to the summit with a game in hand on the rest of the title contenders.

‘We have played some pretty good sides, there’s no doubt about that,’ said Reynolds.

‘But it is pretty tight all the way down. There’s not a huge amount of us and those above – a couple of wins in the tight games we’ve had and we’d be sitting comfortably mid-table.’

Guernsey have made a couple of changes to their starting XV with Tom Ceillam and Luke Sayer both fit to return after missing the trip to Blackheath.

Sayer will come in on the wing, with Ethan Smith switching to the centres in place of Ciaran McGann, who injured a hamstring at the end of the first half against Blackheath.

Charlie Davies remains at fly-half with Owen Thomas staying at fullback.

‘There is always a debate about our best backline. Myself and Malcolm [Barnes, assistant coach] could literally have the conversation for days because the calls are tough ones to make,’ Reynolds said.

‘There are lots of things to consider – is Owen going to start at 10, is Charlie Davies better at 12 or 15 – but it is good to have that competition going on.

‘Luke Sayer is probably there or thereabouts as our starting 15, but coming back from injury and noting what we want to do this week with our kick-chase, bringing him back on the front line we felt was the way to go.

‘Charlie has also done well for us at 10 in recent weeks and it’s another chance for him to cut his teeth there.

‘It is just a matter of fitting our best seven available guys on the park at the same time and we are constantly asking the players to be adaptable. Things happened last week which meant we had to make changes during the game that may not happen this time around, but thing could happen which mean we have to changes things really quickly.’

Against a Worthing side who he described as liking ‘chaos rugby’ that is fast and expansive, Reynolds hopes that the selection he and his management team have gone for will be able to ask questions of their visitors.

‘We have a very distinctive game-plan this week and if we can get a little bit of that right, we can go a long way to making it a tough contest for Worthing and hopefully sneak a win.

‘If you can take a strength away from a team, which for them is their outside backs, you will go a long way to getting a hold on that “W” and that is what we will try and do on Saturday.’

• Tomorrow’s match kicks off at 1.30pm at Footes Lane.

Guernsey Raiders: Steventon, Ceillam, Pinkney, Hillier, Webb, Creber, Rice, Horrocks, Simmonds, Davies, Sayer, Teasdale, Smith, Armstrong, O Thomas. Replacements: Bellingham, Morgan, Burger, Boyland, J Batiste.