St Jacques 12, Guernsey Seconds 10
ST JACQUES pulled off a dogged come-from-behind victory over Guernsey Seconds to keep their hopes of a Sugden Cup semi-final spot alive.
After a magnificent 32-0 home win at KGV against Les Quennevais two weeks ago, it was St Jacques’ last JRA League game of the season and it was absolutely crucial that they beat their local counterparts 12-10 to remain in with a shout of finishing in the top four for the first time in a very long time.
Saints, though, had been trailing 10-0 at the turnaround. ‘I am very, very proud of the mental strength and courage the team showed in the second half,’ said head coach Chris Griffiths (pictured).
‘As I said to them before the game, “adversity doesn’t build character, it reveals it”, and they eventually showed just what they were really made of in that second half to come back and win from 10-0 down against a very strong, young and physical Guernsey side.
‘Our fate now this season lies in the hands of Guernsey and Beeches who play each other this weekend.
‘We currently lie in third, but will be happy to end up in the top four and play a Sugden semi-final against any team as it means a big improvement on last season.
‘Despite whatever happens now, we are already looking to build on this year’s development to move on again for next year. Preseason training for 2008-9 is already at the front of my mind – it’s safe to say we like to keep one step ahead.’
However, on Sunday Saints started slowly and Alec Bailey put Guernsey ahead when he snaffled a loose kick and ran in a try from virtually the halfway line.
He converted to make it 7-0.
A penalty against Saints awarded for obstruction gave the green-and-whites the chance of a 10-point half-time lead, which they gratefully accepted.
A fairly vocal talk from the St Jacques coaching team seemed to have done the trick as soon after the second half had kicked off, the home side were starting to show the dominance in the scrums that was to last the rest of the game.
From one on the halfway line against the head, the home side drove the Guernsey pack backwards and came up with the ball.
From that, Saints played some great interlinking rugby to end up with a pushover try from the forwards, which John Bell converted to make it 10-7.
Shortly afterwards, St Jacques were again in possession when fullback Larry Hughes managed to find some space down the left touchline and his pass picked out scrum half Cobus, who ran into the corner from 22 yards out to score.
Bell narrowly missed the conversion from out on the touchline, but the home side were now incredibly 12-10 up.
The home fans then had to endure watching their side defend from inside their 22 for almost the rest of the match.
However, some great defence kept out several powerful Guernsey attacks while Bailey very narrowly missed a penalty from 30 yards.
‘After a very disappointing first half myself and Rob Box had more than a few keen words to say to the boys and it seemed to spur them on, as finally we got our line-out and our scrum working and our back row really came to life,’ said Griffiths.
‘That’s what enabled us to win the game in the end. In many respects it really was a smash and grab for the first 10 minutes of the second half, but we had enough commitment, determination and team spirit to hang on for the last 20 minutes despite a very strong push from the Guernsey side.
‘It was a crucial game for us to win and I had made it very clear to the boys before the game that it really was win or bust for us this season – it just seemed to take them 40 minutes to realise it.’
Article posted on 2nd April, 2008 - 2.29pm
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