A remarkable quirk of the National Two East fixture list has Raiders facing all of the other sides currently in the top five this month and they got that run off to a memorable start with last weekend’s 35-26 victory in the clash of previously-perfect sides against Old Albanians.
Tomorrow they head to Dorking for the next bout of this succession of heavyweight clashes, with director of rugby Jordan Reynolds wryly describing this mad month which also includes meetings with Esher and leaders Oundle, as ‘fun’.
‘It’s early doors when you are talking about the top five. Whether or not everyone is going to be there come December is another story,’ he said.
‘But you have obviously got some good teams in there and I think it’s pretty clear that OAs will still be there or thereabouts come Christmas, so it was good to come away with that win last week.
‘Now we are facing Dorking away, with Oundle away still to come this month, and those games will always be tough, but the good thing is it means we will get them back here in the new year, so it’s swings and roundabouts.
‘It would be amazing if we can get another win on the road this weekend.’
Dorking are getting better by the week.
They began the season with a narrow defeat away to Havant and then lost to Canterbury, but they have since embarked on a run of three successive wins – over Barnes, Westcombe Park and London Welsh – with the margins of victory increasing each time.
‘We had a nice little run at the start and each week the games have got harder, Dorking had a challenging start but have built into their season,’ said Reynolds.
‘Dorking are always going to be up there in the top half of the league because they had got too much talent in their squad not to be, and both teams are going into this one with a good amount of form.’
Guernsey’s form could hardly be better having registered five bonus-point wins out of five so far, albeit fellow ‘perfect’ side Oundle top the table on points difference.
However, Raiders have only beaten Dorking once in the last four seasons since they have been in the same division, with that win coming back in March 2023 at Footes Lane.
Dorking have done the double over Guernsey in the three seasons since.
‘I was looking through some of the teamsheets of the sides we have travelled to Dorking with in the last few years and you would not say we were even close to being at full strength – last year we were so depleted that we took four players for their first senior games,’ said Reynolds.
‘But we have no excuses leading into this week off and off the back of our team meeting on Tuesday, I would say the players are very excited to be going to Dorking to challenge them. There is no nervousness – it feels like it was last week going into OAs. Everyone has got a lot of confidence in how we are playing.’
There are a couple of changes in the starting XV from the win over OAs, with John Dawe returning in the centres and Matt Armstrong switching to fullback while a front-row rotation sees Charlie Currie starting with Martin Dromantas primed to come off the bench.
Meanwhile, Iwan Shenton will go through a late fitness test but has recovered well from the blow to the ribs which forced him off early in the first half last week with Reynolds naming him provisionally in the pack.
There is a first appearance of the season in a match-day squad for Tom Teasdale, too, as he is among the replacements.
‘Dorking are probably similar to us in the way they play.
‘They go route one and challenge the physical part of your game, so if we can win the middle of the pitch it will give us the opportunity to strike up in their 22.
‘They are pretty calculated and not take many risks. When we play teams that want to come front-door on us, that is probably when we are at our best in defence.’
Raiders team
Wrafter, Callery, Currie, Shenton, Broadhurst, Creber, Rice, Poullet, Simmonds, Parks, Smith, C McGann, Dawe, A Armstrong, M Armstrong. Replacements: Cantle, Dromantas, Webb, Teasdale, Rutledge.
