“TEAMS always seem to come here and produce their best performance.”
A jovial Jersey RFC men’s head coach Myles Landick knows what to expect from home games these days, admitting that he feels like most teams see the Jersey away game as their chance to topple the big boys.
Tomorrow, an old foe descends on CoinShares Park, as Jersey host a Maidenhead side who boast previous bragging rights over the promotion hopefuls.
Landick’s men managed only three league defeats in the 2024/25 campaign that saw them finish on 99 points, but still eight points behind runaway champions London Welsh.
Jersey had previously swept aside Maidenhead in the home fixture 40–7 back in November. However, at the back end of the season when Jersey were chasing Welsh so hard, an away journey to a mid-tabled Maidenhead spelled the end of their promotion aspirations, following a thrilling but devastating 46–45 defeat.
“At the end of the day it’s a new season, our goal is still to get promoted and in all honesty, we haven’t really spoken much about revenge at all,” said Landick. “For us, we know we weren’t on the ball last year in that game, we were well off it especially in the first half to be so many points down. But we have a strong side out tomorrow, we’re at home and we’re looking forward to the challenge.”
One notable name in tomorrow’s men’s squad is the long-awaited return of star-kicker Aaron Penberthy (right), who returns to the squad after a lengthy spell sidelined with injury. The former Reds star brings a wealth of experience and skill both off the tee and with ball in hand, proving a vital cog in Landick’s squad.
The head coach continued: “No game is ever easy, teams always come here and seem to have some of their better performances against us. We need to be on the ball and ready for what they’re going to bring, it’s another game against a team who is going to try and land a big win over the Jersey side, but that’s always exciting. We just have to keep focusing on ourselves, remain disciplined and keep doing the things that we do well.”
After the disappointment of last season, skipper Evan Whitson and his crew have returned a different beast so far this campaign, with renewed expectations and a steely determination about them.
The league summit feels a common sight for local fans now. Whitson’s men sit four points clear of the chasing pack already after just four games, in which they have scored the most and conceded the least number of points, including earning try bonus points from each game.
“We know what Maidenhead can bring,” said captain Whitson. “We landed a big win over them at home last year, but obviously suffered that defeat to them at their place, so we’re aware of the threat they possess across the pitch. We’re certainly looking forward to meeting them again and we know it’s going to be a battle.
“We know also we will have to up our performance from last week, Tuesday was a tough training session, we weren’t quite happy with that performance from last weekend and we knew there were a couple of errors we wanted to address.
“A couple of set pieces weren’t quite functioning as we would have hoped and there were a few system things defensively that we will be looking to improve on tomorrow, but our training has been really intense and we’re seeing some really good competition across the squad which is exactly what we want. We’re feeling in a good space at the moment as a group and we’re hoping tomorrow’s performance is another step in the right direction.”
Action from CoinShares Park tomorrow is set to kick off at 3pm.
JRFC squad to face Maidenhead
[1-15] Morgan Brady, Jack Macfarlane, Jack Higgins, Max Ayling, Cam Keys, Evan Whitson (c), Lewis Wynne, Tim Grey, Liam Rhodes, Scott Van Breda, Mark Boarer, Dan Barnes, George Willmott, Bevan Biggs, Aaron Penberthy
Replacements: Huw Owen, Tom Tilstone, Joe Munns
