Raiders want to end long barren spell against BSE

To achieve both, though, they will need to get the better of a side they have not beaten in over a decade as they renew their long rivalry with Bury St Edmunds.

‘It’s going to be a tough one – it’s Burys,’ said Guernsey director of rugby Jordan Reynolds in a very matter-of-fact way ahead of tomorrow’s clash at Footes Lane.

‘I know there’s probably five or six years where we were not playing them because we were in different leagues, but it is still a long time to not get one over on them.

‘We have been close on a few occasions but couldn’t get over the line.’

Having won six of their first seven games of the season, though, Guernsey are anxious to maintain their momentum which has taken them to second place in National Two East behind the only side to have beaten them, Tonbridge Juddians.

With this being the last in the opening block of eight games before the players get a weekend off to start November, they can empty their tanks knowing that some much-anticipated recuperation time is just around the corner.

‘Burys are a quality side, but if we can get right a few areas that we did not last weekend around complacency and standards, we have to go in confident because we have been playing good rugby and built some confidence in the squad,’ Reynolds said.

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‘They are very good through phase play and they have a lot of speed out wide – their style will probably be a mix of what we have played against in the last couple of weeks and more akin to TJs – so they will try and play a lot of ball.

‘From our side of things, it is about dictating the speed of the game.

‘It is going to be pretty physical, but we get to throw everything at this game knowing we have a bye week coming up and if we get the rewards, then I might give them a week off,’ the coach added with a chuckle.

‘There are definitely a few incentives this week.

‘Firstly, we have not beaten them in years, probably only Lewis Hillier was around the last time we did, secondly, we are looking to finish off this block of eight games in a really strong position and thirdly, we had a team meeting this week where it was pointed out we have not achieved anything yet.

‘We won the game at OAs last week, but we were pretty disappointed in how we performed because we feel we have come a long way and we just want to be consistent, so we have got to hold ourselves to a higher standard.’

Reynolds has had to make a change at hooker with both James Burger and Tom Ceillam suffering injuries at Old Albanian last week.

‘Rae [Ceillam] split above his eye and has had eight stitches while Burger damaged his ankle. He has had scans this week and it is not as bad as we thought it might be, but he will probably be out for three weeks, so it is good to have Phil Le Noury coming back in after his own injury lay-off.

‘In the backs, Jon Dawe has irritated a pre-existing injury and we have decided to keep him out this week knowing that we don’t have a game next week so he should be recovered to comeback after the break.

‘That means we get to bring Owen Thomas back this week and he has been pretty close selection-wise anyway. He had a good run-out with Vikings last week and he has enough caps with Raiders to bring valuable experience.’

• Guernsey against Bury St Edmunds kicks off at 4pm on Saturday at Footes Lane.

Raiders team

Sam Steventon, Phil Le Noury, Charlie Currie, Lewis Hillier, Carter Hackett, Matt Creber, Dom Rice, Josh Poullet, Sam Boyland, Charlie Simmonds, Ethan Smith, Niall McGann, Ciaran McGann, Jack Colbourne, Anthony Armstrong. Replacements: Tom Bray, Martinas Dromantas, Liam Welsh, Owen Thomas, Callum Roberts.