If that is the case, it will be the only positive to come from what initially looked to be Jersey’s least-difficult test of the season.
It really was a bad day at the office against one of the sides tipped to struggle this term, though not by the Jersey management. Scoring two converted tries apiece, the difference in the end was the three penalties kicked by home full-back Robert Kirby.
Reds head coach Harvey Biljon might well have been seething underneath, but he gave a calm, clinical assessment of a bad day at the office for his team.
‘Richmond thoroughly deserved their victory – we’ve got a lot of work to do,’ he said.
‘I know we are down in numbers, but we came here with a good enough squad to put in a better performance than that. Put the result to one side – that was not a performance we would expect from Jersey. Just too many unforced errors, compounded by poor discipline.
‘There’s been a bit of anxiety from the coaches throughout the week, because this was a big test for us to back up three good performances on the bounce. Clearly we failed to do that today.’
Full report and reaction in Monday’s Final Whistle.
