‘We have never beaten them at their place, but we want to try and use that as a little bit of added motivation this week,’ said Guernsey director of rugby Jordan Reynolds.
‘I am always looking for Canterbury away when the fixtures come out because I am so determined to get that away win.
‘We have been so close to doing it before – a couple of years ago we had a disallowed try right at the end which would have won us the game, which we felt was a perfectly good try and looking at the footage afterwards supported that view.
'Normally if someone is saying that we have never beaten them away before, you might think it is a negative mindset, but for us this week it is quite the opposite. For us it is about facing that challenge and ticking that box.
‘The players are really engaged in this one.’
It is yet another top-six clash for Raiders, who got back to winning ways with their topsy-turvy 36-28 victory over Havant last Saturday which ended a three-match losing streak. In contrast, Canterbury are in fine form, having won four of their last five matches after a difficult September when they faced all of the other current top five sides.
‘Canterbury have really got their season back on track in recent weeks. It is going to be a tough challenge – it is always playing Canterbury away.
‘The season is starting to pan out a little bit more now, and taking Colchester beating Dorking last week as an example, everybody is starting to find their feet and every game is becoming more of a challenge.
‘Canterbury will be tough, but we have taken a lot of confidence out of how we had the ability to find a way to win last week despite being in a tricky spot.’
Guernsey suffered a blow this week when centre Ciaran McGann was sidelined through injury, but they literally have a Titan to take his place in midfield.
‘Gus Patterson has come on loan from Rotherham. He is 22 and captained Cardiff Met in the Super Bucs last season, then joined Rotherham in the Championship this season.
‘We picked up an injury on Tuesday and have one or two other guys unavailable, so it made sense to utilise our connections with Rotherham to help us out.
‘Ciaran’s injury will hopefully keep him out for just a couple of weeks.
'We have got Barnes next week then a bye week, so we think he should be back after that.’
Raiders have also been forced into a change in the second row as, under a new system, Joel Broadhurst has picked up an automatic suspension for accumulating three yellow cards.
‘It’s a shame but we can bring Brad Webb in to start and Lewis Hillier to help us out on the bench and they have got a lot of experience. Lewis also played last week for the seconds, so he has got some minutes under his belt and is champing at the bit,’ Reynolds said.
On a positive note, prop Joe Wrafter has been named in the front row having missed the Havant clash, which saw Layton Batiste make a cameo off the bench.
‘Joe Wrafter got through Tuesday pretty well, we expect him to be fine. He has had his rest, now he can get stuck in,’ said the head coach.
‘Last season we could only take 19 players to Canterbury and we then had five injuries inside the first quarter of the game. We will be taking a lot stronger squad this time, which is great.
‘The good thing is even though we have had some unfortunate news with injuries this week, we are still able to bring in quality players and people have still had to earn their spot.’
Guernsey Raiders team
Wrafer, Callery, Stockton, Shenton, Webb, Creber, Rice, Poullet, Simmonds, Parks, Smith, Dawe, Patterson, A Armstrong, Teasdale.
Replacements: Cantle, Bray, Hillier, Kent, Davies.
