AS the Jersey RFC men’s side lost their first game for nearly two years to Guildford 22-29 last Saturday, head coach Myles Landick reflected on a match where he admits his side were “well off par”.
“It’s disappointing for sure,” said the former Reds player.
“We just weren’t at the races for this game, but take nothing away from Guildford. I thought they put in a brilliant performance and thoroughly deserved the win.”
After exclaiming last week that he wanted a more solid defensive performance from his team, after they leaked points in their victory away at Chichester in their previous fixture, Landick continued: “Defensively we were well off par.
“If we’re honest with ourselves, we weren’t working as hard as we could have, which is so unlike us.
“We had several guys playing out of position, and losing Evan [Whitson] so early wasn’t great, but it’s all learnings.
“We have a young team and some of them haven’t actually lost a game in this shirt.
“It’s probably the kick up the backside we need to remember that we can’t take any game lightly. We are the team that everyone wants to beat.
“But it’s ultimate positivity from me towards the lads. We still put in a great second half to get back into the game and there were some excellent individual moments.
“We can’t forget the previous 15 games before this, one loss doesn’t change anything for us and we’ll go back to the drawing board and keep looking forwards.”
Captain Whitson suffered a nasty injury just 13 minutes into the encounter, where he was knocked out cold after flying into a tackle and receiving an accidental but brutally firm collision with his opponent’s hip.
The skipper, sporting an impressive gash across his forehead, said after the game: “The emotions are raw for the lads right now.
“Take nothing away from Guildford, they were brilliant. They really came at us hard and I don’t think we were quite prepared for it, especially early on. But this certainly isn’t a crisis for us. We’ll look at this step by step and make sure we have some honest conversations as a team.
“I’m so proud of having such a young squad and something like this will be a massive moment in their development. This is only a failure if we let it be, it’s how we now respond to this that will determine where this team goes from here.
“I fully believe we have the characters and leaders to help use this set back as a sling shot to push us onto even greater heights.
“For the long term journey we’re looking towards, this could be the best thing to happen to us.”
On what was a difficult and somewhat confusing day for Jersey Rugby, Jack Macfarlane managed to sum up the mood perfectly; “Look, it’s pretty disappointing, but senior rugby is not easy!
“If you’re not prepared, both physically and mentally, then these teams are going to walk all over you and we just got a taste of that.
“Guildford showed us what it is to be hungry, aggressive and disciplined.
“Losing has got to hurt. It’s what makes sport so great!
“It’s what gives you the fire in your belly to come back at training and work that extra bit harder.
“We have a fantastic group here, both players and staff and this will only be viewed as a positive.
“We’ll take this on the chin, dust ourselves off and ensure we put it right at the first opportunity next week.”
