Some sides might be daunted by the prospect of facing the top two teams in the division back-to-back to start a new year, especially coming off four straight defeats to end 2025, but Guernsey director of rugby Jordan Reynolds has revealed that the pre-Christmas injury crisis is behind them and he believes that there is no better time for his troops to take on table-toppers Old Albanians and their nearest challengers Oundle in consecutive weeks.
‘I don’t think I have been this excited to start the second half of the season after the Christmas break,’ said Reynolds.
‘The way we finished last year up at Dorking, the way we have prepped this week and the fact that we’ve got a fair few guys coming back, you get the feeling that things might just start looking up for us and as a coach these are the times you get excited about.
‘At the same time, the performance at Dorking did not come from talent, it came from hard graft and the boys coming back have to get up to that standard.
‘We are up against a pretty big beast in OAs, but if ever you are going to get players back, it is going to be just after a break and we would probably have a different mindset if we were playing the top two sides off the back of poor performances, but over Christmas I have just been thinking about how well we performed in the two games prior, even with 13 or 14 guys out, and that builds confidence. So I’m pretty happy we are playing the top two now because we can get into them and look to set our stall out for 2026.’
OAs put an understrength Raiders to the sword, 87-17, back in September, but that was a result that sparked a huge response from Guernsey who subsequently went on a seven-game unbeaten run.
Injuries then struck once more and December proved tough for the green-and-whites, but the festive break has allowed their player stocks to be replenished.
Front-rowers Joe Wrafter, Sam Steventon and Tom Ceillam are available once more, as are second-row regulars Brad Webb and Lewis Hillier, while in the backline John Dawe, Tom Teasdale and Ciaran McGann have returned to the ranks.
‘We have got front-row options and guys who can come off the bench and make a good impact,’ said Reynolds, who got ahead of the game this week by having training on Tuesday and Wednesday in the knowledge that the usual Thursday session would be disrupted by Storm Goretti.
‘As a collective, this week was probably the easiest to coach. Sometimes you think you have to motivate your group, but everyone has had an eye on this one since the heavy defeat to OAs earlier in the season.
‘When you are about to face the top side, sometimes you get that fear factor, but not in this group this week because everyone is really keen to get another shot at them to try and right the wrongs of our last meeting.
‘OAs are a really good outfit, they play very unstructured rugby, they have got speed and they love to shift the ball to the outside.
‘Last time we played them our defensive sets were just not up to it, we just did not work hard enough across the game, so we have got to ensure we cover the whole field and we are working hard this time and I have a huge amount of faith that we can do so.’
Raiders against Old Albanians kicks off at 2pm tomorrow at Footes Lane and is the second part of a double-header, with Vikings facing Bognor at noon.
Raiders team
Steventon, Cantle, Dromantas, Hillier, Webb, Welch, Rice, Creber, Rutledge, Simmonds, Smith, Dawe, M Armstrong, A Armstrong, Teasdale.
Replacements: Ceillam, Wrafter, Currie, C McGann, Boyland.
