Horrocks to lead in Hillier’s absence

The London & South-East Premier leaders are without regular captain Lewis Hillier, whose partner is expecting their first child, while vice-captain Tom Ceillam is recovering from a knee injury picked up in last week’s win over Guildford.

Fortunately, the news on hooker Ceillam is relatively positive and he is targeting a return in the massive home clash with Barnes on Saturday 24 March, but it will be No. 8 Horrocks taking over the reins at Shelford tomorrow.

‘There are some good leaders in the side,’ said coach Jordan Reynolds.

‘We’ve decided to give Doug the opportunity to captain this week. There were others we could have picked, but we are trying to build a leadership group rather than rely on just one or two people.’

With Ceillam and Hillier absent, Charlie Currie starts in the front row while Dale Martin moves into the second row and Robin Le Cocq returns at flanker.

Meanwhile, Blair Campbell returns in the backline with Luke Sayer having picked up a knock against Guildford.

‘We could have probably got away with playing Sayer this week, but with the personnel we have got to pick from it doesn’t make much sense in trying to push guys through knocks.

‘BC is a first-team regular anyway and we have got to put faith in the whole squad.’

It will be a straight swap on the wing as Reynolds wants to keep the midfield partnership of Ned Brown and Luke Jones in tandem.

‘It’s getting these combinations back together. Last week it was ground zero because they hadn’t played together for a while and we are hoping to build this week and on into the Barnes game,’ said Reynolds, who has his own Barnes – Malcolm – back in the ranks tomorrow after he was given a rest while Kyle Brown played against Guildford.

Shelford have had an up-and-down season, having won eight of their 20 games to sit ninth in the table.

They were on the end of a 52-0 rout when they visited Footes Lane in November, but in their next outing they inflicted a surprise defeat on another of the title contenders Tring, so Reynolds knows what they are capable of on home soil.

‘We made a real point on Tuesday of talking about how important the Shelford game is – it is just as big as the Barnes game for us.

‘They have got three new players, who came in just before the cut-off point in the season, so they will be a different team to the one we faced before, who were missing some regulars then too, so with a couple of key guys out ourselves, we really have to concentrate on our game.

‘They are a very capable team who have always had some decent individuals, it’s just been that consistency they have struggled with.

‘But we have to make sure we are at our best and it all comes down to mindset.’

Guernsey Raiders team

Sam Steventon, Charlie Currie, Layton Batiste, Dale Martin, Nick Merrien, Dan Hill, Robin Le Cocq, Doug Horrocks, Malcolm Barnes, Owen Thomas, Ned Brown, Luke Jones, Anthony Armstrong, Blair Campbell, Sam Whitehead. Replacements: Cameron Craine, Jason Batiste, Kyle Brown.