Guernsey head to Colchester tomorrow aiming to kick start their April push for a top-six finish in National Two East as they complete their campaign with three games against sides in the bottom four, but they also have one eye on being ready for their Siam Cup defence next month.
‘We’ll have to win all our games with a bonus point to give ourselves a chance of that top-six finish, but it is still possible,’ said director of rugby Jordan Reynolds.
‘The funny thing is, we’d be better off playing mid-table sides because at this stage of the season the ones at the bottom are desperate for wins and Colchester can still climb out of trouble so it will be a tough task for us against a gritty side who have picked up a couple of wins recently.
‘But we still want to finish in that top half and we are building towards the Siam, so we want to get some momentum and it would be good to get a win at Colchester.’
In the desire to give returning players some game time, Reynolds has given Liam Welch the weekend off while Charlie Simmonds will be among the replacements with Dom Rice and Owen Thomas coming into the starting XV.
‘Liam has done a lot of big minutes for us of late and has a slight strain in his back while Dom needs minutes,’ the coach said.
‘Charlie has played pretty much every single game and every minute this season. A few weeks ago we talked about giving him a rest, but Owen had not come back yet so we have been looking for this opportunity.
‘It is just about rotating guys around, depending on their needs.’
Having taking a blow to the head which forced him to come off last week, Martinas Dromantas will observe protocols for the next couple of weeks so Jamie Dunn will start at loose-head with Tom Bray at tight-head and Phil Le Noury at hooker.
‘Tom Bray has really developed over the last month or so, his performances have been good and his physically is getting higher,’ Reynolds said.
‘It was an amazing shift from him last week. He did not get a rest and, as anyone with front-row experience will tell you, to go from loose-head to tight-head is really tough and he did it really well.’
Layton Batiste provides front-row cover tomorrow while Guernsey Rugby Academy product and Scotland Under-18 player Fraser Kent has also been named among the replacements.
Guernsey Raiders team
Dunn, Le Noury, Bray, Hillier, Webb, Creber, Rice, Hackett, Rutledge, Thomas, Colbourne, N McGann, C McGann, Armstrong, Smith. Replacements: Batiste, Kent, Poullet, Roberts, Simmonds.
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