This Is Guernsey

By Gareth Le Prevost

Jordan Reynolds shows his determination to make the line as he powers through the tackle of his opposite number David Sweeney to score Guernsey’s first try. (Picture by Steve Sarre, 0869078)

Guernsey 21, Bognor 11
GUERNSEY have jumped to third in London Two South-West after their fourth rugby win of the season.

Their latest performance was far from their best, but they got the all-important win at Foote’s Lane against a rugged Bognor side and player-coach Jordan Reynolds believes his side can even push for promotion.

‘We’ve gone through the hardship of not having a front row at the start of the season, but we still managed to win some games,’ he said.

‘Now that we have got our front row back and we can compete up front, guys like Blair Campbell and Jason Batiste have the platform to go on the attack and they can trouble anyone.

‘Tottonians and Guildford [the top two] are playing each other soon too, so four weeks from now we want to be sitting second or third,’ he added before news of the other results filtered through.

It was certainly good to see captain Simon Sharrott leading his side out for the first time this season following his recovery from knee ligament damage.

He managed to get through the best part of 75 minutes before being withdrawn and afterwards he reported that, although his shoulder was sore, his knee felt fine.

Together with Paul Thomas, who returned as stand-in for injured Bradley Choules at hooker, and Laurence Hill-Tout, Sharrott gave the Guernsey front row stability and it was no wonder that Reynolds was delighted to ‘finally have our scrum back’.

But generally it was a muted game with the ball mainly kept in the tight and only occasionally was there a glimpse of creative flair.

That came almost exclusively from Guernsey with Batiste again providing a big threat alongside the neat work of Campbell while the back three of wings Jim Wyatt and Barry Goude and fullback Cameron Patten looked dangerous on the rare occasions they got ball in hand.

But it was the player-coach who came up with the first try in the 18th minute.

Bognor had already been unsuccessful with two penalty attempts when miscommunication along the visitors’ backline saw a pass go astray inside their own 22 and Guernsey pounced on it.

From the resultant ruck, the ball was thrown out to the left wing by Sharrott and Reynolds gathered on the bounce before making the corner.

On 35min., the hosts extended their lead with a beautifully worked try originating from a line-out won by David Harvey on the right wing.

Campbell and Batiste then carved through the Bognor defensive line and the young inside centre went over.

Nick Barton, who had missed a previous penalty and conversion attempt, added the extras to make it 12-0.

However, in injury time at the end of the half, Bognor narrowed the deficit to just four points as Rob Parry knocked over a 30-yard penalty and Olly Goddard forced his way over in the left-hand corner.

Guernsey extended their lead once more shortly after the turnaround with Barton successful with his boot from 20 yards out, but it took another 16 minutes before either side produced anything of note.

Eventually the home side added three more points through another Barton penalty, but that was cancelled out by Parry who made it 18-11.

The best try chance of the half came with 13 minutes remaining and the home fans were already celebrating when the ball was passed out to James Regnard with the line beckoning following a sharp Batiste break, but the big flanker fluffed his lines and knocked on.

It was not to prove costly as within moments Barton had put the game beyond doubt with his third penalty.

‘The defence was nothing like it was against Guildford – there were periods where we were just going through the motions,’ Reynolds said.

‘But if we play badly and still win against a side like Bognor, who have one of the better packs in the league, it is not a bad thing.

‘We played all right in patches and we scored a couple of good tries and should have had another.

‘Their try was a disappointing one to concede, but a positive from it was that in the huddle after it, everyone knew they could have done better and they all held their hands up.’London Two South-West: Guernsey defeat Bognor at Foote’s Lane to rise to third in the table

Article posted on 9th November, 2009 - 2.29pm