That was the message from Jordan Reynolds after his Guernsey side secured an important 21-12 victory over Sevenoaks on Saturday to put 14 points between themselves and their visitors, who sit 12th in the table, with three teams relegated from the 14-team division at the end of the season.
The Raiders head coach was particularly pleased with their blistering start as Ethan Smith scored two converted tries inside the opening quarter-of-an-hour to lay the foundations for a convincing win.
‘I was pleased with everyone’s attitude coming into the game,’ said Reynolds.
‘Sometimes it can be like five minutes to wake up for us and it might look it, but it was not a dry track out there – it was really wet underfoot. The boys love to play in the dry, so for us to come out the blocks of that first five minutes, it was great to see. I felt for the rest of that half we just battered them, which was great across the park.
‘And I said to the boys [after the game], I still think we’re in second or third gear and we can push that a little bit further.
‘But look, we’re winning games. These are crucial points for us. Take four today and give them nothing – awesome.’
If anything, he was disappointed not to add to their tally in the remainder of the first half, despite staying on the front foot, but Tom Ceillam’s touchdown early in the second half sealed the victory.
‘I think there was probably another three or four opportunities we could have put them to bed. But at the same time, you’ve got to give credit to Sevenoaks, I thought their tackling was really good. I think they slipped on a few defensive errors, but they managed to scramble really well across the park,’ Reynolds said.
‘To be 14-0 at half time, we thought that was probably a fair reflection because we didn’t put those opportunities away that we could have.
‘Then the second half, the same thing happened, we came out first five minutes and got the try.
‘Then we only got back into their 22 once after that.’
Reynolds admitted that indiscipline led to Sevenoaks’ first try just before the hour mark when Raiders, who had defending strongly up until that point, were caught out by a quick tap penalty.
‘When that penalty was called, all we had to do was get back, and yet we’ve got three or four guys trying to convince the referee that it was something else.
‘And that was my frustration – let’s create the effort, get back and make the tackle.
‘But it was, it was disappointing to let such a soft try in, especially when we tend to have to work so hard for our moments and, if we look at that, you let a soft one in like that, it’s a bit disappointing.’
However, they were never in danger of losing, with Sevenoaks’ second try coming from the last play of the game, and Reynolds could even joke about some of the substitutions he made with Matt Creber coming off for a short period before he went back on for captain Dom Rice.
‘That’s the first time I’ve ever brought [Creber] off. The reason why was because obviously you’ve got Liam Welch there and it’s probably an argument why he’s on the bench as he’s been playing well all season, so we’ve got to get him on and we’ve got the confidence to bring him on as well,’ he said, before a wry grin started to spread across his face.
‘I guess for us it was Matt was playing 80s every week and we thought we’d give him a slight rest, but then Dom missed the tackle, so I took him off and then swapped him back on and then had a word to Dom off the park.
‘We know the end goal. We know where we’ve got to get to, and I’ve got to make sure guys are fresh.’
