You will not get another shot at Blackheath, Reynolds tells Raiders

Guernsey welcome one of the biggest and most historic clubs in English rugby to Footes Lane as National Two East leaders Blackheath pay a visit and the significance of the occasion has not been lost on Jordan Reynolds.

‘It’s a pretty exciting opportunity, to be honest,’ said the Guernsey director of rugby.

‘Away from the Siam, the only thing that would compete with this is if we were going for promotion against a top side or if it was a play-off game.

‘I know the emphasis has been building on this one for a while. People were talking about it straight after our last home game and I must have been stopped four or five times in Town this week to talk about Blackheath.

‘I have been saying to the boys, “you will not get another shot at Blackheath – this will be it”. They are going to get promoted this season, regardless of the result this weekend, because they are such a strong outfit.'

‘This might be the last shot we get at them as a club, so it is a big occasion for our guys, our club and our spectators.’

Blackheath are on the up again having been relegated from National One last season after they lost several players to professional clubs and they have established a 13-point lead at the top of the table having lost just twice this season.

They have won their last eight games in a row and they beat Guernsey 48-19 in October.

‘We were a little bit short last time we played against them, but the scoreline probably did not reflect the contest,’ said Reynolds, who added it was ‘a painful day’ due to the way the leaders were so clinical in pouncing on any minor mistake.

‘You have only got to give them a sniff of a chance and they are going to take those opportunities. There are probably only a couple of clubs of that calibre in this league – I would perhaps also put Worthing up there – where after a mistake you find yourself another seven points down very quickly.

‘It gives you a bit of a dilemma – do you keep it tight and try to limit your mistakes or are you brave?

‘We probably need to be brave. Coming up against Blackheath, I don’t think anyone really gives us a chance, but within our squad we see it as a really great opportunity to kind of prove ourselves.’

Raiders were disappointed with their performance in the defeat at Bury St Edmunds a fortnight ago and Reynolds puts that down largely to their mindset on the day as they went into the game having made several enforced changes to their team.

Today they welcome back key players such as Dom Rice, Charlie Davies and Malcolm Barnes to the match-day squad.

‘Our completed tackles were not good enough versus Burys, so we have done some contact work and around our defensive shape, but the main part we have worked on is our mental attitude,’ Reynolds said.

‘In the games against Westcliff and TJs, we missed only six tackles per game. We missed 27 against Burys, which shows where we were mentally.

‘We are going to have to be really physical against Blackheath because they are big side. But they have been beaten this season, so they do have vulnerable moments.’

There is also the possibility that Raiders will be coming up against a player they probably still view as one of their own in Matt Armstrong, the younger brother of Anthony, who started for Blackheath in the game in October.

‘It’s 1-0 to Matt at the moment,’ said Reynolds, who joked that he hopes he does not play this weekend ‘because he is a decent player’.

Guernsey Raiders v Blackheath kicks off at 3pm today, following on from St Jacques Vikings v Andover Seconds at 12.30pm.

Raiders team:

Steventon, Ceillam, Currie, Hillier, Webb, Creber, Rice, Smiler, Boyland, Davies, Smith, Teasdale, McGann, Armstrong, Roberts. Replacements: Pinkney, Morgan, Burger, Barnes, Lee.