Guernsey Rugby Club head to Jersey today with both the second oldest trophy in rugby and also the Ladies’ Siam Trophy to defend after last year’s brilliant double at Footes Lane, but director of rugby Jordan Reynolds emphasised that no matter what has gone before, each year brings with it a great sense of anticipation.
‘This is my 19th Siam now and I still get excited about it,’ he said.
‘The only thing for us is every other team finished [their league season] about a month ago, we finished last week so we did not get to look ahead to Siam until this week, but as soon as we got to Sunday after the Worthing game, I started to get those butterflies again.
‘The thing is you just never know what’s going to happen in a Siam – it’s just that buzz and anticipation that comes with it.’
Guernsey were outstanding in regaining the Siam Cup last year, scoring seven tries in a convincing 49-33 win.
However, they go into the defence of the silverware missing up to eight first-team regulars including three in the front row with Martinas Dromantas failing a fitness test this week to join Sam Steventon and Charlie Currie on the sidelines as well as Matt Creber and Tom Teasdale from last year’s winning side, with John Dawe injured too.
‘On paper, we are depleted and we are playing a full-strength Jersey, but we still have a strong squad,’ Reynolds said.
‘We know there will be some challenges we have to face, Jersey will be strong in certain areas and we have to deal with that, but we feel there are other areas where we can establish ourselves and hopefully we can show a better display than we did two years ago over there.’
Jersey were successful 42-25 on home soil in 2023 and interestingly Reynolds has referred back to that performance more than last year in his team talks this week.
‘We have looked back at that a lot and we felt our attitude was off that day,’ he said.
‘Playing away in the Siam is always really tough – I don’t know how many times we have won in Jersey but you can probably count them on one hand – and we were disappointed with how we played two years ago, which we used to spur us on last year and will look to do so again.
‘There are always challenges when you are away and it is how we embrace them. Jersey are going to be strong across the park with former Championship stars who always come out for Siam, but it offers something extra for our boys as well and we are going to be pretty pumped to play over there.
‘We have talked about trying to control what we have been good at all season, not going off script and looking to do the simple things well.
‘If we were at full strength, I think there would be a lot of pressure on us, but when you look at our team from last year to this year and the fact we have got to travel to Jersey, it probably puts us as underdogs and as we hold the cup, there’s a lot of pressure on them to win it back.’
The Guernsey Raiders Ladies memorably won their trophy with the last kick of the game in 2024 when Chelsie Blondel slotted over a penalty to earn a dramatic-but-deserved 17-15 victory.
Fourteen of last year’s team are involved today after a highly productive league campaign that saw them come within a win of promotion and impressive development within the growing squad.
Siam squads
Guernsey Raiders (4pm kick off): Jamie Dunn, Tom Ceillam, Tom Bray, Lewis Hillier, Brad Webb, Carter Hackett, Dom Rice, Josh Poullet, Sam Boyland, Charlie Simmonds, Ethan Smith, Niall McGann, Ciaran McGann, Anthony Armstrong, Callum Roberts. Bench: James Burger, Fraser Kent, Liam Welch, Jack Colbourne, Dale Rutledge, Owen Thomas.
Guernsey Raiders Ladies (1.45pm kick off): Christine Miller ,Jillian Smith, Megija Krasovska, Zoe Collins, Yvie Coyde, Kayleigh Oliver, Kristi Murphy, Aideen Le Prevost, Ness Brown, Chelsie Blondel, Molly Farrell, Daisy Travers, India Healing, Lauren Ogier, Ella Gidney. Bench: Charlie Le Noury, Tiegan Batiste, Macey Rushent, Pia Brazil-North, Elle Murphy, Emily Wright, Ieva Tulie.
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