Guernsey Press

‘Lack of heart’ leaves Raiders coach fuming

JORDAN REYNOLDS pulled no punches after Raiders slumped to a comprehensive home defeat on Saturday.

Published
Captain Lewis Hillier and some of the beaten Raiders players. (Picture by Martin Gray)

The Guernsey director of rugby offered no excuses for his side’s performance as Old Albanian thumped the green-and-whites 38-7 to move above them into sixth in the National Two South table.

‘I’ve never seen, in Raiders history, that happen,’ Reynolds said.

‘I’ve seen us get beaten here by a lot, but I’ve seen us trying right up to the end [in those other games].

‘It just got too easy.

‘There was more heart in our team the last time we were in National Two.’

He added that there were no positives to take from his point of view and a change of mindset in his squad was needed quickly.

‘I mean 38 points at home against a team we should be competing with is a disgrace. I said to the boys at half-time “there’s too many guys out there loving the ride of being a Raiders player and not putting in the work – end of”.

‘That was a display out there that showed a lack of effort, a lack of heart.

‘I think there is a core group of guys who are working really hard, I just think there are some guys who are disillusioned about what playing for the Raiders should be, and we’ve got to correct that.’

Raiders had gone into the game without Tom Ceillam and Dom Rice, who were in isolation, as well as others who are injured, but Reynolds insisted that was no justification for the display.

‘I know we’ve got Covid problems and we’ve got a lot of injuries at the moment, but there are enough good players out there to perform well and that’s what’s upsetting.

‘And to not show any heart in that second half, a little bit of desire to actually get off the line and put them under pressure, just shows where our mindset is at the moment.

‘Maybe a couple of those close wins we had during the season put us in a bit of a false position. I thought we worked hard for those wins and we haven’t shown anything since. But that’s life and we’ve got to try and get ourselves up for next week.’