Half of their points came from soft tries,’ said coach Dai Burton.
‘The good things for us were our scrums and line-outs but this was a far better team than the one that played against us last year.’They have attracted some very good players.
However, this was a one-off for Jersey.
It will bear no reflection on the way we approach our games in the league.’For the first ten minutes Jersey held their own, and in the set pieces, scrum and line-out, were as good as the opposition – who have been unbeaten for the past five seasons.In fact, Jersey could have taken the lead in the first few minutes following a Steve O’Brien break which came to nothing – mainly because there was no support for the Hampshire county player.And Jersey were not overshadowed in the first quarter despite going seven points behind following a try and conversion after five minutes of play.Seven-nil down, Jersey bounced back in as many minutes when Jon Swift took a quick line-out throw deep in the his own half, which saw the ball passed across field with quick, long passes from Christian Butler and Steve O’Brien to Jim Milner wide on the left.
The winger chipped over the defence but was brought down just inside the Richmond half.
Swift stroked over the resulting penalty to make it 7-3.
The home side then upped the tempo and began to show just what a good handling team they have become.Their next try came on 17 minutes after a quick tap penalty caught Jersey napping.
Subsequently fly-half Martin Slattery dotted down under the posts for the first of his four tries before he converted to make it 14-3.After 18 minutes more Jersey pressure resulted in another Swift long-range penalty – 14-6.Without the injured Jon Brennan, Jersey were having to defend as if their lives depended on it.The next try came when Richmond stretched their lead with a simple line-out catch and drive.
There then followed two more Richmond tries, both converted, to make it 28-6 to the home side after 25 minutes.
Jersey weren’t out of it, however, and had their own scoring opportunities late in the half when they were awarded three successive penalties near the Richmond line following powerful forward drives.From the last of these Jersey opted to take the scrum and seemed ready to secure a pushover score when lack of control at the base of the scrum allowed former Cambridge blue Dan Taverner to snaffle the ball away.After so much effort from the Jersey side, Richmond then took control to go in at half-time leading 47-6.In the second half, so far behind, they could do little to stop the powerhouse Richmond team, who scored another six tries, but full marks must go to full-back Mark White and captain Ian Henderson who were outstanding in defence.Jersey squad: Mark White, Matt Howe, Arnou Helmholt-Kneisel, Steve O’Brien, James Milner, Jon Swift, Christian Butler, Jon Brennan, Doc Snook, Scott Barnes, Chris White, Danny McAllister, Ian Henderson (captain), Dan Ireland, Pat Dean, Paul Nayar, Ross Allen, Paul Woodcock, John Larose, Danny Curzons, Colin Crawford, Phil Walker.
