JOIE de vivre, flair and running rugby was on full display as Jersey RFC scored ten tries and grabbed their highest tally of points this season in a mesmeric end-to-end clash on the South Coast.
Returning full-back Charlie Hubert, and captain Jack Macfarlane, both scored two tries with fly-half Aaron Penberthy kicking 16 points off the tee, as the red shirts played their part in a fantastic game with more than 100 points racked up between the two teams.
The bonus point win away at Chichester, in front of the Sussex side’s largest crowd of the season, keeps Jersey’s 100 per cent record with 15 wins in 15 games as they edge closer to the Regional 2 South Central title.
Jersey back-rower Jerry Sexton said: “It was a good win, especially for the younger lads, we had 13 local island lads in the team, and its great for them.
“This week, we had snow on Tuesday on the island, as they did in parts on the mainland. But we didn’t stop, we went and did a great cross fit session, and a lot of the squad bought into that, which drives fitness levels, and helps us on days like this when other teams might have had a session called off.
“It was good, but credit to Chichester, they made it a difficult game against us and you can see that on the scoreboard.”
Under a grey Sussex cloud amid cold conditions just above freezing point at Oaklands Park, the Islanders started well, immediately winning a penalty and getting a line-out deep in Chichester’s 22-metre area. In front of Chichester’s pavilion end, renowned for its rowdy partisan crowd, the Blues turned over Jersey’s ball.
But the cheers turned to jeers on the sixth minute when the visitors whipped the ball quickly from a line-out on the left, going cross-field in two quick phases with Hubert muscling over to score.
The Blues fought back immediately from the restart, with London Scottish dual-registered fly-half Elliot Haydon slotting over a 25 metre kick.
Ex-Scotland age-grade hooker Macfarlane, skippering the side in the absence of the unavailable back-rower Evan Whitson, finished a great training ground move on the quarter-mark.
He broke from 20 metres out down the blindside, off line-out catch-and-drive maul, and repelled tackles from Blues’ hooker and scrum-half to slide over on the left – silencing the local onlookers in the process with the 31-year-old’s combination of pace and power.
Jersey blindside Sexton, on his second game back after making his long-awaited returned against Farnham last week, was replaced by Jack Preston due to a hamstring niggle, then Chi’s full-back Rhys Thompson intercepted a loose ball to score on the left to keep the home side in it. But the Islanders hit back with two tries in a four-minute purple patch over the half-hour mark.
First, Jersey’s pack went the old-fashioned route, a scrum-drive from eight metres out allowed scrum-half Max Harrington to dot the ball down.
Then a quick line-out move saw openside Euan Spencer slip through two defenders for the league leaders’ bonus-point try. Chichester threw all their bodies into a line-out drive with Haydon getting under the bundle to score the final points of the first-half. The home-side restarted the stronger, with tighthead prop Alex Einchcomb muscling over from a smart line-out move just two minutes into the half.
Jersey re-asserted their imperious position and grabbed two more tries within four minutes, both coming off dominant scrums in Chi’s 22-metre area. Lock-forward Nathan Thomas powered over by the left post a phase off a scrum on the 48th minute, then fellow second-rower Cameron Quereé nipped under two defenders in a near carbon copy move on the right.
Despite the score sitting at 47-29 to Jersey after 52 minutes, the well-managed home-side, coached by ex-London Irish and Ospreys prop Ken Dowding, showed a never-say-die attitude belying their league position of tenth.
A quick break from a scrum in Jersey territory saw Blues’ wingers Joel Andrews and Charlie Davies link up, with the latter running in between the sticks for Chi’s bonus point try.
Home-side hooker Rich Ives came within a whisker of the try-line, but the referee blew for a penalty try due to some questionable tactics by the defenders in Red.
Crucially, wing Eryk Swiech read a Chichester fumble, picking up the loose ball to score by the right post just after the hour-mark, and then Macfarlane dotted down under a bundle of bodies to re-assert Jersey’s scoreboard cushion. Haydon showed his quality with ball-in-hand once more for the home-side, opening up outside centre George Prentice to slide under the posts after a smart line-out move. The try meant it was the most points Jersey have conceded this season.
But Jersey had the final say; with returnee winger Sam Harvey nipping through in the far right corner to score as the clock went into the red, to the delight of the small handful of Channel Islanders who made the trip over to the South Downs.
