Game over – mine's a pint ... of water

Every one of them turned it down. ‘Apparently it’s all part of their training regime,’ David told me last Wednesday. ‘They don’t touch alcohol for a full hour after any game and even then are advised to drink water. It’s a far cry from my playing days.’

After that, for a full five minutes, both David and I reminisced about our own playing days; of how beer was an integral part of after-game camaraderie and of how an 80-minute match could be extended to several hours, bar-time included.

That, however, like the past, is another country. And it’s right to be so. Even though the sight of 6 ft-plus rugby players weighing in at 16 stone or more, wandering around the rugby club with a glass of Highland Spring or orange juice is strangely disturbing for someone who is a product of another era. In today’s world, the more you look after your body, the longer you’ll survive and succeed on a rugby pitch.

From the days of amateurism, to a clinical, professional approach to the game, rugby has changed. However, a brief word about Jersey’s 20-20 draw with North Walsham at St Peter on Saturday. Also ‘congratulations’ to the under-19s for their 26-3 win against Havant in the National Cup away from home.

Jersey rugby really is at a premium at the moment. On Saturday over 1,000 people were at the rugby club to watch a match whose mood swayed first one way, then the other. Either side could have won. However, I was much taken, afterwards, by a spectator who assured me that this was one of the best games of rugby he’d seen at St Peter in years. I’m not sure I entirely agree, but Sam Tuia’s second try was, without doubt, one of five of the best individual scores I have seen at St Peter this century. His run to the line was mesmerising.

And Jersey look like a ‘proper’ London I side, capable of staying in this division and eventually looking for promotion in the years ahead. For that, much should be made of coach Ben Harvey’s contribution not just to the Ist XV, but to Jersey rugby. And I have no doubt that he was equally as pleased as coach Paul Mash would have been at the under-19s’ win and, indeed, the under-16s’ 34-20 win against Andover in Hampshire Division I on Sunday.

Without our juniors, the future of rugby in Jersey would be a bleak and worrisome thing. As it is, the Hampshire RFC are – at times grudgingly – in awe of what a tiny, 9×5 mile island has been able to produce in the way of talent. Meanwhile, how many other clubs in Hampshire could attract a four-figure crowd of spectators on a Saturday afternoon when there’s football on the telly?

Why, I’d even pay entry money to watch the Ists, such is the entertainment value on offer at St Peter these days.