ALTHOUGH he is a hard task-master, JRFC coach Ben Harvey was positively purring after Jersey’s 40-20 win away against Portsmouth on Saturday.
Despite losing professional Nathan Kemp with a broken arm late in the second half (an injury which means he will be out for the next 4-6 weeks), Jersey’s style of play keeps them in promotion contention in third place in London I and, according to Harvey, deservedly so.
‘Considering we were missing V (captain Talite Vaioleti) at times we played brilliantly,’ he said, immediately after the match. ‘Perhaps Sam Tuia’s second try was the best we scored but in fairness they were all terrific. We also started with a changed side from the one I named in the paper, but the reason for that was all down to me.’
Man of the match Dave Felton, playing at second row in place of V, had an assist in the first Jersey score,
made by the pack in the tenth minute from a well worked line-out on the left-hand side and touched down by Kemp. Felton was also on hand to help supply Tuia after Hendry Rheeders had punched a hole in the Portsmouth defence from 60 yards out before the outside centre cruised through for a converted try to make it 12-0 with three-quarters of the match remaining. Mitch Burton then converted a penalty to make it 15-0.
Pictured: Hendry Rheeders in action against Stratford
