JERSEY RFC’s players and coaches “have earned their Christmas break” after putting in a clinical seven-try display away in Dorset and continue their hugely impressive unbeaten run.
The club’s director of rugby Myles Landick cut a delighted figure after watching his fledgling side come through a gruelling and feisty clash on the south coast with flying colours.
Teenage scrum-half Callum Cuthbert put in another man-of-the-match display with two tries in the 47-12 win over Wimborne.
Stalwart hooker Jack Macfarlane also got a brace, while young winger Anushan Elanco, tighthead Tom Wilson and loosehead George Thomas all scored at a lively Leigh Park. It completes a golden calendar year for the red-shirted side, who have gone unbeaten throughout 2023, and sit comfortably at the top of Regional 2 South Central with a full house of 13 bonus point wins.
Landick called it the “perfect way” to end before the Christmas break, which has been a tough campaign with plenty of issues both on and off the pitch, given the collateral impact of their professional stable partners Reds folding in September.
“It was a hard-fought win, against a physical Wimborne side that kept coming at us. I thought our defence was brilliant, just the sheer amount of tackles we made, and some of the tries we scored were brilliant, so overall a brilliant win away from home to finish off a very good year,” added Landick.
“It was a full 80-minute performance from us, we proved we could move the ball, but also looking at our set-piece, I thought that worked very well. There were one or two line-outs that strayed, but we got a fair few maul tries and we’re fairly dominant up front.
“As we want to throw the ball around, we have to make sure we’ve got a good set piece and we fronted up there so it was pleasing. I said in the week we can’t think of Christmas until the 80th minute, well we can all enjoy the break now.”
The fixture was full of fire and hot headedness, with several meleés and scraps between the sides, but Jersey kept their cool. On rival teams trying to disrupt the leaders, Landick said: “You come here to Wimborne and like most places, everyone wants to go at you. Most of the season we’ve found that a lot of teams come at you hard for 40 or 50 minutes, but can’t sustain it.
“But credit to Wimborne, they fought us all the way to the end, they scored a couple of tries out wide, so credit goes to them on those scores, but we have to be pleased with our overall defensive performance and some of our tries that we scored there.”
On flying the flag for the Island, and claiming another successful voyage to give them a 14-point margin at the top of the tier six league above Winchester, Landick said: “I think we’re on an exciting journey at the moment, I said to the boys in the week that no game is a given, and if anyone thinks we can just rock on the pitch and its easy to score 40 or 50 points, I can say firmly it’s not.
“They kept coming at us, and we had to work hard for that win even though it was 47 points. No-one wants to go on the pitch and win by stupid amounts, we want good competitive games of rugby and that was one today.
“It’s a perfect way to end this year with a couple of weeks off and going into the New Year. And the journey the boys are on, they are loving the journey. I feel the promotion and relegation element that we had last season and this season, it just creates excitement.
“Now we want to get to level five, give it a really good go, and see where we’re at.”
