Hopefully there will not be a general free-for-all, lasting two to three minutes when all 30 players took pot shots at each other, as happened last year, not least because of the refereeing credentials of Donal Courtney.
As well as full Six Nations internationals, the Irishman has refereed South Africa versus New Zealand in the Tri Nations – both sides are renowned for ‘short-fuse’ incidents if the referee isn’t looking.
However, if he expects Jersey v Guernsey to be a relaxing way to spend 80 minutes on a Saturday afternoon he is, as Jersey coach Dai Burton explains, mistaken.
‘Of course our priority has been the league this season,’ he said on Wednesday.
‘But the Siam Cup is, and will always be, something special to the players.
We’ve two or three born-and-bred Jersey players, but even Ian Henderson, who isn’t originally from the Island, knows this is something special.
‘To give you an example, when we played the final of the Hampshire Cup against Basingstoke a year or two ago, the team didn’t have the same desire you’ll see in a Siam Cup match.
‘The league is over now.
Such is the importance of this match, however, that all season can be wiped out in the space of 80 minutes.
Jersey would feel eclipsed by defeat.
It’s the same for Guernsey.
Like us, they’ve won promotion.
But on Saturday all that will matter is winning the inter-insular.’ His team know some of the Guernsey players, including the Welsh prop and hooker, Steve and Paul Thomas, and they’ve heard that their No 8 and 9 can, on their day, be match-winners.
However Burton is unfazed by their reputation.
‘We’ve got a county No 8 and, in Dave Miles, a player who could easily have been county scrum-half a few years ago.
They are good, experienced players in key positions.
‘So I’m confident, if Guernsey do try to run the match from 8 and 9 we’ll cope with them.
And if they try to disrupt our scrum, I know that the pack, who are playing well at the moment, will deal with them.
‘Looking at their selection, it seems they’ve picked a hard hitting defence but again, that suits us.
We’ve been used to it all season.
We won’t try anything different to how we’ve played all season.
Let them worry more about us than we about them.’ While there are several new faces in Guernsey’s team, which includes Welsh, South African and New Zealand players, Guernsey won’t have met some of the Jersey players before.
They might not realise, either, that some of the best players will be sitting on the bench, as Burton looks to play total, 80-minute rugby, making changes at key times to maintain momentum right to the end of the game.
Matt Banahan, for example, London-Irish bound and a try scorer last year is named as a sub as are Gareth Davies, James Milner and John Larose, all of them experienced 1st XV players.
As for Guernsey, their coach Rob Box, for whom this will be his second Siam said: ‘Last year was a big eye-opener for me and I have thought about the game a lot more this year, studied all the videos of Jersey and am generally better prepared for the challenge.
‘We have had a good two or three weeks of training where I’ve had 35 to 40 men that I could look at individually before picking the team.
I hope I have got things right – last year I was a bit weak on the bench but I think I’ve got all areas covered this time.’ He is looking forward to the game as is scrum-half Willoughby Bloem, who said: ‘I don’t know much about Jersey other than they are going up to a better league so I know it’s not going to be easy.
But I am playing with a very good team, and we’ll give it our best shot.’
