The Jersey Reds head coach has spent the last seven weeks shaping the club’s latest professionals into a preferred mould for 2018/19, and following an intense training block under the summer sunshine the squad of 35 are fired up for the visit of RC Vannes.
The French side dealt the Islanders a heavy defeat at this stage last season [38-14 in Arzon], but Biljon has again taken focus away from the result and is expected to make wholesale changes at half-time.
Janco Venter and Hilton Mudariki – Namibia and Zimbabwe internationals set to meet in a 2019 World Cup qualifier next month – are two of five new faces due to start, alongside new club captain Roy Godfrey.
‘There are 16 new players this season … that’s more than what you put out on a Saturday, so we do have challenges,’ Biljon admitted. ‘But they’ve embraced the way we do things here and what we’re trying to achieve around strategy and style of play. That’s been very good.
‘They can’t wait to play a game and as coaches we cannot wait to see them play, because you learn so much more about players once they’re out there, accountable for their decisions and executing skills under pressure. We also need to work out which combinations are going to be right and how the team is gelling. ‘
Discussing his pre-season plans, and subtle changes in approach for this season, Biljon said: ‘We’re looking at finding a balance in game time for all the players so they’re all prepared for the league campaign.
‘The way we approach the first and second half [tomorrow] will prove that and we’ll make different decisions out there to what you would see in the league campaign. But we do still need to execute a couple of new strategies that we’ve put in place.
‘Last year we did change things. We scored more tries and more points than before but I remember being challenged early on by people saying “you haven’t scored tries”. We had to keep making those mistakes to get there in the end. It was about staying true to what we believed in and having the players buy into it paid off for us.
‘We’ve adapted again, and there’ll be a couple of things we’ll be doing in the competition that other teams won’t be doing. Hopefully that pays off, but anything can happen in this league and there will be lots of challenges – tough conditions, tough pitches, inconsistent refereeing … we just have to focus on what we need to and I think we’ll be OK.’
Asked to highlight his main hope for a physical first encounter, he replied: ‘No injuries. But their physicality and size is what we need – a team wanting to come here and beat us up.’
Ten Reds debutants are set for introductions at half-time, although returning fly-half Aaron Penberthy – making his way back to fitness after illness – is unavailable.
Jersey Reds – first half (1-15): Roy Godfrey (c), Nick Selway, Alec Clarey, Dave McKern, Charlie Beckett, Max Argyle, Jake Upfield, Janco Venter; Hilton Mudariki, Brett Herron; Josh Hodson, Mark Best, James Newey, Leroy Van Dam, Jason Worrall.
Second half: Cameron Holenstein, Charlie Maddison/Jack Macfarlane, Leeroy Atalifo, Adam Batt, Rory Bartle, TBC*, Graham Geldenhuys, Kyle Hatherell; Will Homer, TBC*; Jack Stapley, George Eastwell, Koch Marx, TBC*, Auguy Slowik.
Rotation: Sam Rodman (prop), Harry Morley (prop), Joel Dudley (scrum-half).
*From first-half XV.
