Thirteen Guernsey Raiders are joining forces with 10 Jersey players just two weeks after the Siam Cup clash to take on the nation ranked 31st in the world, who play in the Rugby Europe Trophy, the third tier of European international competition, and have won eight of their last 10 matches.
Jordan Reynolds cannot wait for kick off and was ebullient in his praise for his squad.
‘The players have been fantastic. They have really, really stepped up for us, which has been great,’ he said.
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‘I think coming out of the training camp [last week], we’re really optimistic about about what this squad can showcase for Channel Islands rugby.
‘This league season will be only positive for us [Raiders] and you’ve got to look the way that Jersey played on Siam Cup – they’ve still got a lot more in the tank than we do – so it’ll be great to have that that talent showcased at Footes Lane.
‘You’ve got guys like Aaron Pemberthy, Dan Barnes, Scott Van Breda, Tom Wilson – these guys are all class players and to combine that with our Guernsey boys, I think it’s only going to be a positive come out of it.’
While it is still to be seen whether the CI are successful on the pitch, off it the event is already a hit.
‘We’re just overwhelmed – I believe that we’ve sold out everything other than a few gate entry tickets on the day, which makes it bigger than the Siam of last year,’ said Guernsey Raiders chairman Gary Haycock-West.
‘It’s far too early to to count all the money because obviously we’ve got the initial costs that are associated with it, but it will net some good profits into the club that we can feed back in to our grassroots club and very much in line with what we’re also trying to achieve with our One Club initiative is bringing the whole Guernsey RFC together with the Academy, with the vets, with the ladies, St Jacques Vikings etc.
‘It’s an expanding profile, but it needs a lot of funding, so we’re very blessed with the people who support us.’
The match kicks off at 7.30pm tonight.
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