Leading 17-0 at half-time, the Islanders defended with passion and determination in the second period as Knights, with the Force 7 wind at their backs, threw everything at their Island hosts.
| P | W | D | L | BP | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bristol | 13 | 11 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 53 |
| Doncaster | 13 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 46 |
| Yorkshire Carnegie | 13 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 13 | 45 |
| Bedford | 13 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 42 |
| Jersey | 13 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 33 |
| Nottingham | 13 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 9 | 33 |
| Cornish Pirates | 13 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 6 | 30 |
| London Welsh | 13 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 4 | 28 |
| Rotherham | 13 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 27 |
| London Scottish | 13 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 6 | 26 |
| Ealing | 13 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 7 | 19 |
| Moseley | 13 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 7 | 19 |
But for a late penalty try, it would have been a memorable triumph for the Islanders. Nonetheless, the draw was just reward for a dogged defensive display, and the result lifts Jersey to fifth place in the table – ahead of Nottingham by virtue of points difference.
Taking two points from a team placed second in the league will rightly be seen as an excellent return, however the manner of Knights’ final score – a penalty try deep into the 80 minutes – will perhaps leave the Islanders disappointed, contemplating what might have been.
That was certainly an opinion echoed by Biljon, who said: ‘I’m never going to say the result was fair.
‘I’m going to say that there were a couple of things that should have gone our way and there were a couple of things that we were unlucky with, but to come away with two points against a team that’s second in the table is a great result.
‘We played to win the game, not to draw but, as I say, taking two points from Doncaster is a great result.’
He added: ‘Our messages at halftime were clear – the first thing we spoke about was being game-smart … how we were going to keep the ball, how we could in some way just build phases to edge ourselves up the field.
‘The second thing we spoke about was work rate that we had to put in and the impact off the bench. And finally I think it came down to a desire and a mental toughness just to keep going. I thought the Jersey players had that in abundance and I was immensely proud of them.’
Standoff Brendan Cope, who faced a particularly demanding task as the Islanders’ kicker, felt the final result was fair.
‘The team with the wind was putting the other team under pressure,’ he added.
‘We did well to defend our line for such periods of time but we’ll take it in these conditions, for sure.
‘You can always improve on things – it was what it was at halftime so we knew we had to defend hard and keep the ball in hand if possible.
‘We needed a mental toughness knowing we were against that big wind and we just had to show heart as well. I think we did quite well in the end to do that.’
