The 41-10 loss against runaway leaders and, realistically, Zoo Shield champions elect Richmond Vikings was a little harsh on a Jersey side shorn of several experienced members.
No doubting Richmond’s class, however, and a look at the previous week’s result away to London Scottish puts Saturday’s match at St Peter in context … the Vikings won 88-7!
| P | W | D | L | BP | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Richmond | 14 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 70 |
| Blackheath | 18 | 12 | 0 | 6 | 9 | 63 |
| Jersey Athletic | 15 | 10 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 54 |
| Cinderford | 14 | 10 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 51 |
| Esher | 14 | 9 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 50 |
| Ampthill | 16 | 7 | 0 | 9 | 9 | 45 |
| Barnes | 16 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 10 | 40 |
| Old Albanians | 15 | 5 | 0 | 10 | 8 | 37 |
| Henley Hawks | 14 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 13 | 37 |
| London Scottish | 16 | 5 | 0 | 11 | 4 | 35 |
| Worthing | 14 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 6 | 26 |
The visitors have a 100 per cent record, so the news that they would not be fielding a recent acquisition from Jersey’s Championship squad, South African full-back Ross Jones-Davies, mattered little to them. This is a club with serious, if not unrivalled, strength in depth.
Jersey’s big hope probably rested with the pack gaining dominance and a defensively strong back division – with the likes of Jason Hosty and Brian Rennison adding real physical presence on the wings – holding out against the visitors’ rampant three-quarters.
But an early yellow card for first-team prop Nick Selway put Jersey on the back foot and another, from new flanker Kaisa Leota, just before half time, made what was already a tough task harder still.
Selway’s card was followed immediately by a push-over try for the combative Richmond pack, Simon Ackroyd touching down. Minutes later the visitors’ backs were unleashed and Jack Rossiter finished in the the left-hand corner.
A decent spell of pressure from Jersey brought some reward when Ben De Figueiredo kicked a penalty to make it 3-14. Now back in the game Athletic needed to score next to make a revival realistic in the second-half, but a cute cross-field kick found Vikings’ Hubert Brown in space and he gathered to score the first of a hat-trick of tries – 19-3.
Jersey’s job was made harder still with Leota, who had impressed with his close-quarter work, starting the second half in the bin.
Richmond took advantage of the extra man with Brown crashing over in the right corner, despite a last-ditch tackle from De Figueiredo. Yet this heralded Jersey’s best spell as the pack renewed their efforts, with captain Kingsley Lang celebrating his birthday by finishing off a forwards drive on the left. De Figueiredo converted in style to give Athletic a sniff of a chance at 24-10 down.
Brown, however, ended thoughts of a comeback with a breakaway try completing his hat-trick.
Despite losing Lang to hospital after a hand injury Athletic mounted further periods of pressure, but Richmond underlined their quality with two late scores from Rossiter and Carlton Parker.
Athletic manager Dai Burton was far from downcast at the final whistle: ‘Our forwards played well and I think the margin of victory flattered Richmond, though they are a really good team. Three yellow cards hurt us, as did some silly errors, but we came back well in the second half and some of our youngsters got valuable experience today.’
Jersey remain in the top four of the Zoo Sport Shield Premier Division.
17 Jan: Athletic 17-8 Henley. 31 Jan: Esher 24-17 Athletic. 7 Feb: Ampthill 28-33 Athletic. 21 Feb: Athletic 21-0 Barnes. 28 Feb: Athletic 10-41 Richmond
