ALTHOUGH not prone to talking up their side after games and focusing on the next challenge, broad smiles from the Jersey Reds coaching team demonstrated a job well done at Stade Santander International.
In dismantling Caldy by 71-14, the home side gave what director of rugby Harvey Biljon acknowledged was close to a complete performance.
‘We showed real composure and discipline to keep up our level of play for 80 minutes, and to put on a show in front of our supporters at home was pretty special,’ he said.
Biljon admitted that he had been impressed by his team’s ability to keep their opponents under pressure and score points while missing players as a result of yellow cards.
He added: ‘We pride ourselves on our disciplinary record and we probably slipped there – Caldy were quite emotionally charged and it took a while to stamp ourselves onto the game, so it’s something we’ll need to address.’
Assistant coach Tom Williams said he saw significant improvements from the encounter between the sides at Paton Field in October, when Caldy led at half-time before the Reds came through to win by 15 points.
‘We fell into the trap of playing the game Caldy wanted to play at times up there, but today we were more ruthless and on it from minute one,’ he said.
Caldy head coach Matt Cairns paid tribute to his side’s supporters, who travelled in numbers – up to 400 were estimated to have been at the game – while admitting his side were well beaten and would be focused on getting results against teams lying closer to Caldy’s position in the table.
He said: ‘Credit to Jersey; they are a good team, and were very clinical and powerful – this is what you’d expect a full-time team to do against a side which trains twice a week.’
