Tests do not come much harder than National Two East leaders Tonbridge Juddians, but if facing the table-toppers was not motivation enough for Guernsey, they will likely be up against a former Garenne Stand fans’ favourite in Hugo Culverhouse, who joined TJs last summer.
‘Hugo started in the second row for them last week and I imagine he will probably do the same this weekend,’ said Raiders head coach Jordan Reynolds.
‘We are still good friends with Hugo and some of the guys caught up with him a couple of weeks ago, but when you are playing against a good mate, the intensity tends to rise and so that has given us a little bit of extra motivation for this game.
‘He has been playing some good rugby this year.’
Although Culverhouse has been a regular in the TJs match-day squad this season, he missed their home game with Guernsey due to injury back in October when the leaders edged a thriller by a single point, 38-37.
TJs have lost just three times this campaign, but two of those defeats have come this month, with today’s fixture being the game in hand both sides have on the rest of the division after it was originally postponed due to the weather in January.
Reynolds admits that his side will be considered underdogs on league position, but he was buoyed by their performance against another of the title contenders, Dorking, a week ago when they were edged out 31-29 in another cracker.
‘There’s a lot to be positive about in our rugby at the moment,’ he said.
‘We have not quite hit the heights of September and October, but we are not a huge distance off that.
‘We could work a little harder in certain areas, such as our kick chase, but the defensive side of our game has been pretty good.
‘We are coming off the back of the disappointment of the result last week, but to get so close against one of the top three was a good effort and this weekend we have got another great challenge in front of us.’
Raiders have delayed naming their squad while they wait upon the fitness of a couple of players, but their coach reported that both Matt Creber and Jack Colbourne are in line to return to action.
‘Having these guys starting to come back in is a big plus for us,’ said the Guernsey director of rugby.
‘Two weeks ago it looked like Jack could be six-to-eight weeks on the sidelines, so it has been a pretty quick recovery for him and Matt has been one of our most consistent performers all season.’
Reynolds added that this match being rearranged for springtime bodes well for the spectators.
‘The ground is going to be a lot drier than it would have been in January, which is great because both sides heavily depend on their back play – TJs love to play with width – so I think we will see very fast and entertaining rugby,’ he said.
‘We are playing some good rugby and while our defence had probably been lacking in the last few games, against Dorking we stepped it up.
‘We will need to do that again to match what TJs throw at us.
‘They are first in the league for good reason – they have got a lot of talent in that squad – but they also have to go to Dorking in the last game of the season, so they will want to create a bit more space between them between now and then.’
Guernsey Raiders against Tonbridge Juddians kicks off at 2pm on Saturday at Footes Lane.
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