Saturday’s rare home defeat, against a powerful Ampthill team who registered their first victory in Jersey in style with a 38-19 success, need not, however, be seen as a disaster.
A reworked side, with new partnerships, was always going to take a while to bed-in and the visitors took full advantage of misunderstandings to score a bundle of points in the second half.
On the plus side, Jersey scored three excellent tries and looked a real threat when they got going. And they even defended well for long stretches. On the other hand, they will know they can not afford to be as generous to Guernsey as they were to Ampthill’s Josh Sharp, an as appropriately-named stand-off as you will find. Any loose passes, slowness of thought, or momentarily switching off from the home side was ruthlessly seized on by the No 10, who formed a formidable core of senior players alongside his excellent No 8 and captain Loti Molitika, half-back partner Ben Calder and strong inside centre Micky Wilson.
Scott McClurg, Adam Spencer and Alex Budd touched down for the Reds at St Peter, and the trio have all since been named in Myles Landick’s starting XV for the Siam trip to Footes Lane.
First-team hooker Nick Selway will captain the Caesareans as Tonga international Uili Kolo’ofa’i makes his last Jersey appearance before heading home to New Zealand.
Full Athletic report and Siam Cup squad in Tuesday’s JEP.
