Reynolds proud of his players despite end-of-year defeat

While disappointed to end 2024 with back-to-back losses, Guernsey director of rugby Jordan Reynolds liked what he saw in his side’s final outing of the year.

‘I was not pleased with the result, but I was pleased with the performance of the players,’ he said.

‘There’s enough in that performance to believe we are on the right track.

‘Commitment-wise we’re there and mentality-wise we’re there, we just have to get a few little things right.

‘We will come back after Christmas, do some training to get ready for Havant and see if we can iron those things out.’

Raiders were forced into a late reshuffle when prop Martinas Dromantas injured his shoulder in training last Thursday, which meant that the plan of having an extra front-rower in the match-day squad to cope with the conditions went out of the window.

Then, on arrival at Westcombe Park, Raiders faced up to the prospect of playing of what Reynolds described as ‘one of the worst pitches I have been on’ at National Two level, making Dromantas’ absence felt even more.

‘That was a big blow for us – this would have been Martinas’ house with that muddy pitch. He is about direct power, so this would have suited him down to the ground,’ Reynolds said.

‘The pitch was so bad that we could not even warm up on it before the game and with that pretty hefty wind, it did make things difficult and it definitely played a big part.

‘Yes, both teams had to deal with it, but Westcombe Park had two previous games on that pitch and they probably had a better understanding of how to play those conditions in the first half.

‘Afterwards we were saying that if we’d had another 10 minutes, we felt we would have gone on to win that game because they were out on their feet and we just looked like we had started to get going.

‘Our back-line was the only one on the day making yards, but it was like running with cinder blocks on your feet on that pitch.’

In the end, the hosts took the spoils 14-8 with a converted try in either half.

Guernsey were within two points at half-time thanks to a try from Carter Hackett, but they were only able to add a Ciaran McGann penalty to their tally in the second half.

‘We created a lot more than Westcombe Park, but whereas they had three chances and converted two, we had perhaps five or six and converted them into one try and one penalty,’ Reynolds said.

‘As I say, I could not fault our work rate – defensively we were excellent – and of the two tries they scored, one came from what I’d call a miracle bounce when a grubber kick through the mud bounced up into the hands of one of their players. Sometimes you just have to respect the skill, but that was the only thing that bounced all day.

‘Our try came from a line-out maul about 20m out, we carried infield and then Charlie Simmonds, Cal Roberts and Carter went down the blindside to score.’

Reynolds was also frustrated when a decision went against his side midway through the first half.

‘We had sustained a lot of pressure when one of their guys went down injured,’ he said.

‘Play went on for another four or five phases and the referee looked at the injury a couple of times, allowed play to go on, but then as soon as we intercepted, he called play up for the injury and we would have been away under the posts untouched.

'Why play was not called up straight away but then stopped as soon as we took possession a long way away from the injury, we just couldn’t understand it.

‘I think that was a big moment in a game when tries were really hard to come by – that could have been a big swing in the game.

‘The good thing was that we stuck to our task, kept fighting and found that try before half-time.

‘We then created another three or four opportunities in the second half when the final ball just did not go to hand. But I thought we performed so well in that second half when we were playing into the wind – there were some real positives to take out of it.’

Guernsey head into the new year fifth in National Two East with a hectic schedule ahead of them as they have two games in hand on most other teams.

‘We still have those two games to catch up, but at the same time it is going to be a gruelling fixture list.

‘It keeps us in the hunt for a top-six finish though.’

Raiders return to action on Saturday 11 January when they welcome Havant to Footes Lane.