All 21 Raiders will have a ‘massive’ role to play

Guernsey director of rugby Jordan Reynolds insists that his home side will be the underdogs as they look to wrest the second oldest trophy in rugby from Jersey, who reclaimed the beautiful piece of silverware with a 42-25 victory at St Peter last year, but reported that the mood in the green-and-white camp has been ‘really good this week’.

‘I’ve not seen this since the OAs game, just complete focus, training really well, doing defensive patterns with lots of energy – the squad has been really energised this week, which is great to see,’ he said.

Raiders go into the game on the back of a tough fixture schedule of five consecutive weekends to finish their National Two East campaign as they emerged with their most wins in a 14-team division at level four.

Meanwhile, Jersey have cantered to the Regional Two South Central title with 20 wins from 22 games, scoring almost 300 points more than anyone else in their division during their campaign, which ended a month ago.

‘We know Jersey are confident, they have said as much this week,’ said Reynolds.

‘They are the form team, they have been playing well this season. You’d probably say that they are a National Two team playing at a lower level at the moment.

‘We are excited, but from our front we are a pretty humble side regardless of whether we win or lose so there is a contrasting difference.

‘We are confident in our own ability, but Jersey are clear favourites with the way they won last time and it is up to us to step up to the challenge.

‘[Last year] Jersey did play well, there’s no doubt about that, but it was poor from us, arguably our worst performance of the season, we did not exit well and we put ourselves under pressure.

‘We will be looking to rectify that and we have been building pretty well in training.’

The Guernsey squad includes three Siam debutants.

Niall McGann, who will be on the wing outside his brother Ciaran, is the only newcomer starting while Carter Hackett and Jamie Dunn will be introduced off the bench.

In other team news, after impressing against Henley last weekend, Dale Rutledge will start at scrum-half.

‘Probably the biggest difficulty [in selection] was how we wanted to play, game-plan wise, and how we wanted to do it.

‘In previous Siams it has been about that starting XV and then having a couple come off the bench during the game, but this time we put a lot of thought into those guys on the bench.

‘The way we have set this up is how we want to play in both halves, so we had to make some really tough calls and explain to those guys not starting the reasons, but all 21 are going to play a massive part.

‘You do not win Siam Cups any more with just 15 players and selection is strategic.’

A packed day of action at Footes Lane tomorrow starts with the veterans’ Nash Cup at 10.15am, followed by the second-team Fallaize Cup at 11.45am, the Ladies’ Siam at 1.45pm and the Siam Cup match at 4.15pm.

Guernsey Siam Cup team

Sam Steventon, Tom Ceillam, Charlie Currie, Lewis Hillier, Brad Webb, Matt Creber, Dom Rice, Hugo Culverhouse, Dale Rutledge, Charlie Simmonds, Ethan Smith, Tom Teasdale, Ciaran McGann, Niall McGann, Callum Roberts. Replacements: James Burger, Jamie Dunn, Carter Hackett, Liam Welch, Anthony Armstrong, Sam Boyland.