THE prospect of a Premiership scalp during pre-season should attract a decent level of home support as Jersey Reds take on London Irish on Saturday, before the Island’s amateurs, Jersey RFC, take centre stage on the same field.
Reds director of rugby Harvey Biljon will send out a 31-man squad as the host club re-establishes relations with the Exiles after a three-and-a-half year break, and it’s a contest he’s looking forward to.
‘We’ve had a really good relationship with Irish over recent seasons, both in terms of players like Matt Rogerson and Ciaran Parker, who have moved between the clubs, and in the build-up to this game,’ he said.
‘I would hope that the game will reflect the rapport between the clubs, with both teams wanting to play, as well as attracting plenty of supporters.’
Although he still has enough players for two separate XVs, and one over, Biljon does have a few selection headaches in the second row. Hamish Bain and Tom Everard suffered head injuries last Friday, the former during the warm-up to the season opener against Leicester Tigers and the latter during the game itself. Neither has passed the required assessment this week, while Sean O’Connor sits out the third game of his four-match ban after suspension for a dangerous tackle in the penultimate game of 2021/22.
Biljon said he was expecting a different challenge against the side who were ranked eighth of the 13 teams in last season’s Gallagher Premiership.
He said: ‘With Leicester Tigers you know what you’re going to get, with a power and territory game, but Irish are perhaps that bit less predictable and our players will have to be concentrating fully all the time.
‘We all compete to win, but that’s not what these pre-season games are about – it’s about being ready to take on Ampthill, and Coventry at home the following weekend, when league points are at stake.’
Following the Reds’ 3pm clash, Myles Landick will send his side out to face Norwich RFC [6.30pm kick-off] as they prepare for life in Counties One Hampshire.
In their second outing since reverting from Athletic to JRFC, the Island’s leading amateur men will be looking to ensure they are best prepared for the start of the coming league season.
Head coach Landick will be looking to his players to build on their opening hit-out last weekend, when the Caesarean side edged past Oxford Harlequins by 19-17.
He said: ‘We’ve tended to play the same teams on multiple occasions in recent seasons, so it’ll be interesting to see how we cope with a side we don’t know a lot about.
‘We know they play at level six, one tier above where we’ll be playing this season, whereas Oxford Harlequins were promoted from level six to five last season, so it’ll be a good test of where we are at.’
