JERSEY REDS director of rugby Harvey Biljon gave a respectfully measured post-match interview after watching his side slide away from a well-worked lead for the second week running.
The Reds chief emotionally highlighted how proud he was in his team, who came within a whisker of being the first side to win at Cornish Pirates’ Mennaye Field this season.
Instead, the Penzance-based outfit rallied in the second-half yesterday afternoon and overturned a 17-7 deficit to win 21-17, effectively ending any chance of Jersey Reds having an outside shot at the Championship title.
‘We can forget about all of the top-four jostling,’ said Biljon. ‘We are no longer in control of whether we finish in the top two or not. That’s well out of our hands, if I’m honest.
‘First isn’t mathematically possible now and it depends on our rivals, so let’s see what happens.
‘We’ve got a week off now. We won’t take the full week off but we’ll give the guys a bit of a breather and then make sure we give it our all for Nottingham and Coventry away, before the cup.
‘We’ve had a great season so far, we want to just enjoy our rugby in these last two fixtures now and make sure we finish on a high for ourselves and for the whole Island.’
Biljon highlighted his side’s accuracy and not being able to capitalise on great opportunities as pivotal during their latest show.
He said: ‘We are feeling okay in the dressing room, it was a hell of a game of rugby and I can only give Cornish Pirates a lot of credit for how they fought back in the second half.
‘For us, to come down here, it is a difficult place to come. It came down to some small but critical moments. I could quite easily be talking after a win but we needed a little bit more accuracy at key moments. That is something we will learn from.
‘There were two critical moments just before half time, and one just after, which made a big difference.’
It was Jersey’s first away defeat in four fixtures on the road, going back to their Boxing Day loss at Bedford.
Biljon, who knows the Pirates well from his days as their backs coach – before he joined the Reds eight years ago – was encouraged by how his side managed the challenge and noted it was far different from the Ealing loss, eight days earlier.
He added: ‘The way we kept with Pirates and maintained their kicking game was impressive and we deserved more from the effort we put into the game and the number of times we forced them into errors.
‘Against Ealing, we were pretty naïve at times. This was different; it came down to two or three key moments, a penalty and an unforced error to secure the game. It was a game of tight margins against Pirates, as we thought it would be, and we were battling for the win right into the 80th minute.
‘Given the injuries we’ve had, a number of the guys having to isolate due to Covid this week, I’m really proud of our effort and endeavour. Literally one or two key moments could have changed the game.
‘A lot of what we’ve been working on came to fruition;, our transition play by backs and being able to hold Pirates kicking game.’
Biljon was also full of praise for the returning Guy Thompson, who has been out since November.
‘He is a point of difference player,’ he said. ‘He showed that but it’s not all down to one player having some big moments, we need everyone to be firing.’
