That is the Guernsey director of rugby’s message to his Raiders as they aim to end the first block of National Two East fixtures on a high tomorrow when they face another huge top-five clash as former England fullback Mike Brown brings his Esher side to Footes Lane.
The two clubs have both won five of their six games so far this season and on paper it could hardly be a closer match-up.
‘We are equal on points, it is just points difference, for and against, that separates us by a single point,’ said Jordan Reynolds ahead of fourth hosting third.
‘We have got to throw everything into this Esher game.
‘It is not going to be easy, that’s for sure, but knowing we have got a rest week coming off and the players can have next week off, the message is going to be we have got to leave everything out there for the full 80 minutes.
‘It is about getting back on track after [losing at] Dorking last week and to be able to say we have got six wins out of seven going into the first bye week would be fantastic.’
Raiders have a new face for the occasion as young tighthead prop Bryce Stockton makes his first appearance for the club having recently arrived in the island.
‘He has actually featured in a couple of games for Esher – he didn’t come over here last season, but he played against us when we went over there,’ Reynolds said.
‘He has been playing out in Australia during the summer and he was playing for Exeter University in the “Super Bucs” last year.
‘He is a young prop with a huge amount of opportunity to grow here. From what we have seen he has got a good work ethic around the park and hopefully we can use that through our phase play, and particularly in defensive situations.’
While Raiders suffered their first defeat of the campaign on the road at Dorking last week, Esher’s season began with a loss away to current league leaders Oundle on the opening day and they have subsequently embarked on a run of five successive victories.
‘They are going to be a real challenge, which is a good one for us to spring back from Dorking. We have to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves down from what happened last week,’ said Reynolds.
‘We probably only needed to be 10% better to win that game last week, but there is probably 30-40% improvement we need to do overall.
‘It will be a different test. Dorking were very set-piece orientated whereas Esher are probably a little more backs orientated – their backline seems to be scoring a lot of good tries.
‘We are relatively strong squad-wise, it’s just a case of getting our mindset right from where we were against Dorking.’
Having the home support behind them will help with that, according to the head coach, and there promises to be a big crowd with the Raiders against Esher clash being the main event of a triple-header at Footes Lane with the Thirds and Seconds also in action earlier in the day.
‘It is going to be a bit of a festival of rugby with something for everyone. We are also hosting an Oktoberfest event, so it’s a great opportunity to be part of the club,’ he said.
‘The crowds we have had for our first two home games have been great and the boys were even talking about the sheer volume of noise when they ran in for half-time against Old Albanians.
‘People might not realise it, but that support really does make a difference when you are having to dig deep in these big games.’
Raiders against Esher kicks off at 2pm tomorrow at Footes Lane. Prior to that, Raiders Third XV face St Pere at 10.45am and Raiders Second XV host Eastleigh at noon.
RAIDERS TEAM
Wrafter, Callery, Stockton, Poullet, Broadhurst, Creber, Rice, Shenton, Simmonds, Parks, Smith, C McGann, M Armstrong, A Armstrong, Teasdale.
Replacements: Cantle, Currie, Webb, Rutledge, Dawe.
