Wait is over for Raiders as leaders come to town
YOU would be mad to miss it. That was the message from Guernsey’s director of rugby as his Raiders prepare to welcome National Two East leaders Tonbridge Juddians to Footes Lane tomorrow.
TJs have lost just once this season, but barring that somewhat surprise defeat away to Bury St Edmunds in November, no-one has pushed them closer than Guernsey, who suffered an agonising 38-37 loss to the table-toppers in the reverse fixture three months ago.
‘It is going to be a brutal game,’ said Raiders head coach Jordan Reynolds.
‘If anyone is wondering what they are doing on Saturday, to miss this you have to be mad.
‘I think it will be a really good contest with the outcome based on small margins.’
Raiders are currently fifth in the table with games in hand on all bar one other side in the division.
Some might view tomorrow’s match as a free hit for the home side, but that is not how the squad themselves see it.
‘This group is wired differently and it has been really difficult for them not to think about this game for weeks,’ Reynolds said.
‘It was the game that got away from us over there, so that has been good motivation this week for the boys, as has last week’s disappointment at Canterbury although we still played reasonably well there.
‘It would be great to turn the tide a bit on TJs and, to be honest, a win would give us a little bit of redemption from both last time against them and last week.
‘I have to say it is more about us than TJs as we want to find out have we grown as a squad and are we the beast at home [against the top side] as we have been so far this season.’
It looks as if TJs will be without former Raiders favourite Hugo Culverhouse, who has been sidelined with an ankle injury, but Reynolds emphasised the dangers they pose across the park.
‘Their number one threat is their backline. They have physical centres who will be testing the gain-line and they have a lot of speed out wide so they look to shift the ball quickly in open play,’ he said.
‘Our backline, man for man, matched them last time out, so up front will be massive and there will be an emphasis on winning collisions.
‘When we last played TJs, they only way they scored was on five failed exits from us.
'They failed on two occasions themselves and we capitalised. That is what good teams do and the whole point of rugby is the chess game – you want to get in their half and apply the pressure.’
Tomorrow’s game kicks off at 2pm at Footes Lane and is part a triple-header with St Jacques Vikings playing Eastleigh at noon and the Guernsey Rugby Academy U15s facing Edenbridge at 3.30pm.
Guernsey Raiders team
Steventon, Ceillam, Dromantas, Hillier, Hackett, Colbourne, Creber, Poullet, Boyland, Simmonds, Smith, Dawe, C McGann, Armstrong, Roberts. Replacements: Burger, Dunn, Welch, N McGann, Rutledge.
