Small reward for a tremendous second-half show against a far-bigger and more experienced Rams Titans side, but not a reward to be sniffed at … even that had looked extremely unlikely after the first half. It could, however, have been much, much more, but for some damaging defensive lapses in the opening ten minutes and later when the visitors were on the rack at 19-all.
Simon Johnson’s arrow-like effort, his 11th point of the game, converted a dramatic late try from the jinking and determined substitute Mark Boarer in the Bowl Corner, following good play from Dom Mayo, Scott McClurg and Adam Spencer all three who had impressive games. The youngster’s try, Athletic’s bonus-point fourth, meant the conversion also brought them to within seven points of the visitors, for another Shield point, so welcome following their pointless opening day defeat against Old Elthamians last month.
But these are early days . . . and few of the healthy home crowd basking in the sunshine will have instantly recognised more than half of the Athletic squad, which was much changed by social demands (weddings) and injuries. A disjointed first-half performance followed, with the lineout one of the few areas that Athletic showed some consistency in, although they did register an excellent try from winger James Dufty in the Pavilion Corner on 24 minutes, expertly put away by centre McClurg’s back-hand pass.
Athletic, however, had already shipped two converted tries by then . . . and looked like conceding more. To go in just 14-5 adrift was, presumably, a relief.
Head coach Myles Landick admitted that there had been ‘strong words’ in the home dressing room at half time, but that he was proud of the reaction, despite conceding a third try within minutes of the restart, Joe Booth touching down for his second after a good Titans handling move.
Doggedly, Athletic dragged themselves back into contention, with a markedly better scrum performance and some enterprising attacking play. Centre McClurg was prominent in the resurgence with a powerful run and clever drawing of this man before releasing Johnson free on the left to run unhampered to the posts.
Jersey’s set-piece was now functioning well, with man-of-the-match Mayo making light of his lack of game time. Scrum, maul and ruck improvements were begining to show the visitors in a different light . . . they looked all the world like a tiring team.
Step forward the indomitable George Willmott for a superb try following a penalty lineout move, with the No 8 either stepping wide of, spinning out of, or crashing through at least half a dozen Titan tackles to score under the posts. Nineteen-all after the conversion – and there only looked one likely winner.
But no, Athletic paid dearly for tackling lapses to concede tries against the run of play: a fourth, from James Page, and the fifth being lively centre Conor Corrigan’s second.
Sandwiched between those was a disallowed intercept score from Boarer, frustrated by an off-the-ball push on a Titans player. Jersey deserved to finish with something and a late surge brought them two richly-deserved bonus points and the feeeling that victories are not too far away.
Said the head coach: ‘We were unorganised at the start and falling off tackles. The lads know there’s no excuse for that or hiding away from it. We didn’t start well, in fact, we were quite poor … knock-ons, not being clinical enough or executing chances. We didn’t reproduce what we did in training and that was disappointing.
‘But second half, after a strong chat, the lads knew what they had to do and put themselves in a position to win it. It just goes to show though, that if a team gets you get in the right positions, a missed tackle will cost you a try.
‘For us to keep fighting for bonus points was encouraging though it’s not ideal – the boys are disappointed not to get the win.
‘We were missing five or six lads at a wedding, Ewan [Davies] out with concussion and Nathan [Rogers] injured. But players like Dom Mayo stepped forward and I thought he was brilliant today – he’s only been back a couple of weeks and there’s a lot of pressure throwing in the lineouts.
‘We will learn from this – and there were positives, too.’
Athletic (1-15): Doug McGovern, Dom Mayo, Euan Humphreys, Harrison Berresford, Ed Howgte, Euan Spencer, Tim Corson, George Willmott; Liam Rhodes, Simon Johnson; Finlay Laing, Matt Kaye, Scott McClurg, James Dufty, Adam Spencer. Replacements: Max Harrington, Thomas Ricaux and Mark Boarer.
Jsy Reds Athletic 26
Tries: Dufty 24; Johnson 45; Willmott 70; Boarer 80
Cons: Johnson 45, 70, 80
Rams Titans 33
Tries: Booth 5, 43; Corrigan 7, 77; Page 72
Cons: Humberstone 5, 7, 77, 72
