Raiders excited by 'derby' day away to Barnes
BARNES look to have beaten the weather to ensure tomorrow’s ‘derby’ against Raiders goes ahead.
Guernsey director of rugby Jordan Reynolds has long said Barnes are the closest his club have to traditional rivals in the RFU Leagues as they have played each other so often and nearly always produce a thriller, so he was pleased to report yesterday that his side should get the opportunity to sign off the year in style.
‘I would almost put it at 99% sure that their pitch will be frozen, but Barnes have managed to secure a 3G pitch at Rosslyn Park so it looks like the game will go ahead,’ he said.
‘We were excited about the Bury St Edmunds game, to be honest,’ he added of last week’s fixture that succumbed to the deep freeze in England.
‘We were confident ahead of that game, but within the squad we retain that confidence from our last two games when we got the win at Rochford and then beat Canterbury so we still feel pretty excited and it’s Barnes isn’t it? It’s as close to a local rivalry as we have got in the league and the boys are really keen to get stuck in.
‘For us it is a really great opportunity to because there must be a huge amount of pressure on Barnes to win this one because they are at home and they have had a good start to the season.’
The hosts are sixth in a congested table, just three points off second place, whereas Raiders are ninth.
Usually when the two meet, there is just a score between them, but Barnes inflicted a 32-17 defeat on Guernsey at Footes Lane in September.
‘They beat us here and they played really well, but I feel that was our only performance this season where we were really poor,’ Reynolds said.
‘If you look at the other games we have lost to the likes of Old Albanian and Blackheath, we have played pretty well, but against Barnes we were really slack.
‘From where we were that day to now, despite our injuries we are a much more settled side and have better attacking options because we have been building multiple areas we can score from.
‘We never really fired a decent shot at them in September. We want to rectify that this weekend and if we could finish on a high before Christmas, that would be amazing.’
Reynolds has delayed naming his side for the trip to Barnes while he awaited fitness tests on several players. Among those with question marks hanging over them are Sam Boyland, Owen Thomas and Tom Ceillam.
