FOLLOWING a pair of tense battles at Bracknell and home to CS Stags, Jersey RFC hit the road again tomorrow to face a toiling Horsham.
Myles Landick’s side have shown a canny knack of adapting to the situation and the opponent during the course of this season, knowing when to dig in and defend, while also exploiting chances to show attacking flair and score at will.
With Horsham languishing near the foot of the Regional 1 South table and the fixture taking place on their artificial turf in West Sussex, the stars might just align for Jersey’s usual suspects to add to their try tallies.
The opponents have just three wins from 14, with just Brighton below them and they were comprehensively beaten at CoinShares Park 69-17 in October.
Landick said: “I’m really proud of the way the boys dug deep in trying circumstances against both Bracknell and CS Stags.
“It’s important that you can win in many different ways and we have shown that character and willingness to dig in for large parts of the game, which we needed to do with 13 men at one point against Stags.
“When the situation allows us, we can be expressive, but when we need to lean on our set-piece and maul, we have been able to do that – which is really pleasing.
“It really doesn’t matter who the opposition is, our message is clear.
“We prepare for Horsham, just like we would for London Welsh. Every team are at this level for a reason and they all have our respect.
“There was a lot to be happy with last week, but we reviewed the footage and Scotty [Van Breda] identified a few areas in attack where perhaps we weren’t sharp enough.
“The lads have worked really hard in training and look forward to putting that hard work into the game tomorrow.”
Landick has continued to offer up opportunities to those who work hard this campaign and tomorrow is no different.
Rory Drummond earns his debut on the wing, after recently returning to Jersey, while Jack de la Bat also slots in on the opposing wing, as Bevan Biggs and Lance Armstrong drop out.
Former Jersey Red Dan Barnes broke his thumb two weeks ago against Bracknell, but was unaware of the extent of the damage until after last weekend’s win over CS Stags.
Therefore he sits out, with Mark Boarer coming in at full-back and Scott Van Breda nudging back to centre.
Liam Rhodes comes in for Max Harrington at scrum-half, after the latter made his 50th appearance in red last week.
Up front, Max Ayling is given a well-deserved rest after an attritional few weeks, with Jerry Sexton unavailable for selection.
In their place enter a pair of seasoned Jersey players in the shape of Euan Spencer and George Willmott, further highlighting the strength in numbers at Landick’s disposal.
PJ Dodge, who impressed last game, will start from the bench, with Tom Tilstone getting the nod.
There is also space on the bench for another promising young academy product in Billy Mullins.
“We have had a fair few games in as many weeks, so it’s a good opportunity to move some players around,” continued Landick.
“Rory [Drummond] has trained well and we’re excited to see how he gets on, while PJ was outstanding last game and is in the squad again, alongside another former Colt in Billy Mullins.
“It’s a long season and we always knew we would have to lean on the entire squad, so it’s really pleasing to have so many players pushing in training to earn their spot.
“I understand that most of the talk has been around London Welsh and people are looking at that fixture as being so important.
“But we have three fixtures to go until then, two of which are away from home.
“Our focus has always been week by week and game by game.
“If you have the mentality that the points are a given, that’s a dangerous way to think.
“We need to carry on getting five points from fixtures and then see where we are.
“But these guys have showed over the past couple of games that they can really dig deep and grind out results.
“Defensively, we have been outstanding and having the ability to stand tough and also attack is so important if we want to be there come the end of the season.”
Action from Horsham is due to get underway at 2pm.
Jersey RFC to face Horsham [1-15]: George Thomas, Jack Macfarlane, Huw Owen, Euan Spencer, Cameron Keys, Tom Tilstone, Evan Whitson (c), George Willmott, Liam Rhodes, Aaron Penberthy, Rory Drummond, Scott Van Breda, Tom Bulfin, Jacques de la Bat, Mark Boarer. Replacements: Joe Ridgway, PJ Dodge, Billy Mullins
