Tough April period is over, now for Siam Cup defence

With ninth place already secured before they travelled to Old Albanians, Raiders opted to rest some of their big names a fortnight ahead of their Siam Cup defence and more injuries on the day contributed to a 48-21 loss.

However, director of rugby Jordan Reynolds admitted that the overriding emotion at the final whistle was ‘relief’ to have achieved certain ambitions, with one big one still to be realised.

‘If I’m to be honest, everyone has had one eye on the Siam for the last couple of months,’ he said.

‘I think the season has still been a success – we wanted to stay up and we’ve done that with some spare change.

‘Last year we finished 10th and this year we’re ninth, so it’s only a small rise but it is an improvement and we have managed to get a huge amount of the Vikings core some National Two experience, too.

‘But, to be fair, in two weeks’ time, the Siam could alter how we see our season.

‘It opens up a new chapter now and I’ve no doubt there will be a lot of motivation from the boys in the next two weeks.’

Raiders took the lead against OAs through a Dan Morgan try, which was converted by Owen Thomas.

However, soon they were having to make enforced changes and by half-time they trailed 22-7.

Guernsey showed their fighting spirit to add a couple more tries after the interval through Ciaran McGann and youngster Oscar Bailey, which got them back to within 10 points of their hosts at one stage before OAs pulled away once more.

As far as injuries go, Lewis Hillier (shoulder), Hugo Culverhouse (knee) and Matt Creber (broken nose) were all lost from the pack during the game, while Thomas and Anthony Armstrong were also taken off, albeit more as precautionary measures according to Reynolds.

‘It’s been the story of the last month. I don’t think we’ve got through a game without emptying the bench early,’ said the coach.

‘We rested a lot of players in the hope we could have them fresh for the Siam, but there are guys like Lewis and Hugo needing game time and they then pick up injuries. It’s tough to get the balancing act right.’

He described the overall performance as ‘clunky’.

‘There were a few issues on the day, but one that we could not control was having five front-rowers on the pitch for a large part of the game because of the injuries.

‘We had Jacob Pinkney in the second row when Lewis came off and Dan Morgan in at flanker, plus Tom Bray, Tom Ceillam and Darrin Bellingham all in our pack at once.

‘It was quite good weather, a dry pitch and OAs played a really fast game, so that was always going to difficult for us to adapt to.

‘But there was some good attacking play and some good individual performances, although OAs were good value for their win, for sure.’

He added that Tom Ceillam impressed when coming off the bench at hooker for Raiders while McGann often posed a threat in attack.

‘It was good to see him step up as a senior back on the day,’ Reynolds said of his centre before glancing an envious eye at the opposition.

‘I was talking to OA guys afterwards. They loan a lot of players from Saracens and have got up to 35-40 squad members they rotate, so they are fresh. We don’t have that luxury.

‘Matt Creber was actually upset because he had played virtually every minute of the season until he broke his nose – but that is the difference when you are relying on guys week in, week out.’