He deserved his hat-trick, although the try he said he enjoyed the most was flanker Nathan Kemp’s.
Kemp was put into space on the blind-side by Griffiths, following good work by Dave Miles at scrum-half and he tumbled over the line with two Sidcup defenders clinging on to him.
Following Darren Toudic’s conversion the scroe was 24-16, but the crowd knew they could not rest easy as Jersey have lost, in the dying moments, many times before this season.
To their credit Sidcup did score again – a breakway try on the left, from the oldest player on the pitch, Steve Hancox – before, right at the death, Griffiths sealed a win from a set scrum on the stroke of full-time.
The try was no more than Jersey deserved, although in the first half they gave away too many penalties and were trailing, 6-0, despite being the only side that wanted to play 15-man rugby.
After missing an easy penalty within the first two minutes, full-back Richard Pilgrim put the visitors in front from 30 yards out, and then made in 6-0 after 20 minutes.
With the wind behind them Sidcup were rarely out of Jersey’s half in the first half, but a tremendous surge by the pack put Griffiths in, following a crash ball from captain Steve O’Brien.
Toudic converted and led Jersey 7-6, before a flurry of penalties, against the home side preceded Sidcup’s captain, Danny Mizen, catching and driving over in the left-hand corner.
So Jersey, clearly the best side, trailed 11-7.
‘In the changing room the players’ confidence was still sky high,’ said Jersey’s assistant coach, Guy Hinks.
‘They knew they’d got the better of them.
Our tactics in the second half were simple; whenever we could, we’d pick up and drive.
They were so strong, Sidcup couldn’t stop them.’ So, after half-time, Jersey moved up a gear and were gaining up to 40 metres at a time, simply by picking up and pushing.
Toudic kicked a penalty, given for offside, in the 44th minute.
Then, from third phase possession from a catch and drive, Griffiths scored his second try.
Again, Toudic converted.
Three penalties against Jersey in quick succession allowed hooker Iain Wilson to score from a rolling maul, making it Jersey 17, Sidcup 16.
Then followed Kemp’s try – and a carthorse gallop to the line by Sidcup’s Hancox to make it just 24-21 to Jersey.
Thankfully, Jersey killed off the game with Griffith’s third try.
Griffiths said afterwards: ‘Although we’re going from strength to strength, we’ve not been killing off games.
We must realise that in this league every side plays for the full 80 minutes.
The team spirit, though, is great – and we’re enjoying playing in this division.’
