The home side scored 11 tries as they moved level on points with Old Albanians at the top of the National Two East table on a weekend when the leaders lost away at Esher.
Henley’s surprise win on the road at Westcombe Park has left Guernsey, who have dropped to 10th, looking over their shoulder once again.
‘It pulls us back into a little bit of a scrap and makes it a really big game for us against London Welsh this Saturday,’ said Raiders head coach Jordan Reynolds.
His side were never really in the contest against BSE, who had scored five tries before Guernsey eventually got on the board late in the first half through a converted Matt Armstrong try.
It was a similar story after the break as the title contenders added six more tries to their tally, including two for former Raiders centre Matt Hema, before the visitors got a late consolation through Martinas Dromantas.
‘It was another poor away day from us really and that’s down to a combination of a few things,’ said Reynolds, who was not helped by illness preventing Josh Poullet from travelling and injuries during the game to Sam Boyland and Matt Creber, but he did not use those as an excuse.
‘Our set-piece actually went well – our scrummaging was really good and the line-out went OK as well – but defensively we were just not anywhere near as committed as we had been against Havant.
‘The start was a bit sluggish from us against a very good Burys side, our execution was not overly accurate as well.
‘If we had played to the same tempo and accuracy as we did against Havant at home in the game at Bury St Edmunds, it’s probably a different story. I’m not saying we would have won, but it’s probably more of a 38-28 type of game.’
Guernsey’s director of rugby also described Bury St Edmunds as ‘easily the best side we have played against this season’.
‘They are just really well drilled and extremely well coached, and once they got that momentum, they hammered us. We were poor on the day, but do not take anything away from Burys,’ he said.
‘It’s difficult because, perhaps not just this season but for a while now, our away form has been underwhelming whereas our home form is really good.
‘One good thing is we have three home games out of our last four, so hopefully we can continue that home form.
‘There is a lot to be encouraged about in the way we have been performing at Footes Lane, so we need to put the Burys game to bed and focus on this week now.’
