While Guernsey director of rugby Jordan Reynolds admitted that his side lost to an impressive outfit, he emphasised that the eventual 38-8 scoreline did not tell the whole story of a very hard-fought, tight contest with 21 of the home side’s points coming from intercept tries that eventually gave them a flattering margin of victory.
‘As we were coming off the park we got stopped by a lot of the Oundle supporters saying we had been one of the best sides to have been there this season and the scoreline did not reflect the game,’ Reynolds said.
‘Yes, we made some mistakes and Oundle were really good at capitalising on our errors, but I could not fault the effort and commitment from our players. The intensity they brought was a level up from what we had played previously this season.
‘It’s really weird because we lost the game, and the scoreline blew out a bit in the second half, but we’re really pleased with a lot of our performance.’
There was nothing to choose between the two sides for the opening half-an-hour and it was not until the 35th minute that the hosts took the lead through an intercept try which put them 7-0 up at the break.
‘On a breakaway opportunity for us, their last defender tapped the ball up and they went up the other end to score. Either way, we were going in or they were going in,’ said Reyolds, who suffered an early blow when Guernsey lost prop Charlie Currie to a hamstring injury within the first five minutes.
‘The message at half-time was to make sure we stayed with them. Then we came out, got right up into their 22 and kicked three points to close the game, but from the restart we knocked on and lost momentum.’
Gwyn Parks had slotted over that penalty to bring Guernsey back within four of their hosts, but Oundle responded with a 25-minute spell of 31 unanswered points to take the game away from the visitors before Callum Roberts went over for a late consolation.
‘We threw three intercept tries, that’s 21 points, and in the second half when they went up by another intercept try, we had to go for it so we became a bit more exposed,’ said the Raiders head coach.
‘In truth, without those intercepts, I think they still win the game, but it probably ends up being more like a 14-8 or 17-8 score. If you strip those 21 points away, there was not a lot in the game.
‘To be fair, there was a lot of fog around, the ground was quite wet and the ball was greasy. Neither side tried to play a lot of rugby, it was a really physical game.
‘I’ve seen our guys put in big shots before, but when the opposition’s supporters congratulate you at the end of the game, you know you have put in a big shift.
‘It was a brutal game. We are still making unforced errors, but it would have been easy to roll over against a quality side like Oundle and we didn’t do that.
'It feels like our guys have taken a step forward. It is very rare that you get all 20 players giving absolutely everything, but that’s what we got... and we only gave away seven penalties,’ Reynolds added with a degree of pride.
He added that his side had created three or four other good opportunities in the second half, but credited Oundle for their defensive display.
‘We were there or thereabouts. The difference for me was Oundle had three or four individual players who just won the big moments. For instance, their fly-half kicked a 50-22 from inside his own 22 and they got a try from that. It was such a big moment in the game,’ Reynolds said.
‘It probably does not matter who much you stay in the game, if they have got guys with Premiership and Championship experience, they know how to produce in those moments.
‘I know other teams have put points on them, but when these guys were scoring points, it was like they had won the World Cup. I think they built up to this as being one of their bigger games and their defence was really good, and their ruck selection was really good too. For a team like us who have been creating opportunities each week, it was really tough and we have got to give credit to the opposition.’
The defeat combined with results elsewhere saw Raiders slip to fifth in the National Two East table, but Reynolds still regards that as a promising position having now completed their ‘Fourmidable October’ when they faced the four other sides in the top five.
‘I think they were all fair results. The only disappointing one was the Esher game, that was one we should have won,’ he said.
‘But you have got to remember we have just faced Dorking and Oundle away, when we have home games against them it looks like it could be a different story.
‘This weekend was tough and it was a shame we could not pick up at least a point against Oundle, but where we are in the ladder is fair.
‘Now we have six games until Christmas and the aim is to kick on. If we win the majority of those games – and I think the confidence is there within the group – then we could be third or even second.
‘We have faced the difficult part and now we will be facing a lot of teams who are below us whereas the others in the top five still have to play each other, so there are going to be more twists and turns before Christmas.’
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