JERSEY REDS’ boss Harvey Biljon wore a beaming smile after his side overcame a difficult test in the West Country to continue their unbeaten run.
The tier-two side kept their 100 per cent record, winning 27-17 against a Hartpury side full of Premiership class and international honours to remain within a whisker of league leaders Ealing at the end of the first block of RFU Championship games.
Tries from wing Ben Woollett, hooker TJ Harris, centre Alex McHenry and wing Tomi Lewis re-affirmed the message of their title ambitions and how well Jersey’s squad has knitted together this season, as the league now gives way to the Cup until early December.
Biljon said: ‘Testament to all the players and support staff, the S&C team, analysis, everyone is really working hard and responding to the challenges so we’re going to keep putting in the hard work and enjoy our victories.
‘There’s some real enthusiasm from everyone supporting each other to give that extra contribution. We’ve rotated our squad throughout. All seven games so far have been tough, everyone has played and we’ll continue with that going into the next set of Cup games.
‘We have some guys to come back from injury, Toby Venner, Brendan Cope and Tim Grey, who will all contribute to the squad. It’s going well but we’ve got a long way.
‘We’ve had seven wins and all bonus-point wins minus two, and in some really tough conditions, but the guys still endeavour to play at their best and I want them to enjoy this success so far.
‘I’m really chuffed from that performance, five points on the road when you’re playing a Premiership select team is pretty good.
‘There’s two key moments around that. Just before half-time, we should have capitalized and then just after the break where we let them back in.
‘That period before and after half-time were not great for us but what was really impressive was how we built our way back in to get those second-half scores to get ahead.
‘We made smart decisions, were brave to go for the five points and pushed that lead ahead so we were always more than a score from Hartpury which forced them to play in areas which made them look dangerous but at the same time we backed our defence to hold out, and I’m chuffed with that too.’
With Jersey’s lead narrowed to 12-10, Biljon and the coaches made several changes which seemed to have the desired effect.
Biljon said: ‘Testament to the bench, there were real positive contributions from Max Argyle, James Mitchell, Adam Nicol and everyone that came off the bench had real confidence to get us over the line.
‘We kept driving the territory until those opportunities presented themselves. It should have been more than 12-0 at half-time, there were some chances where we didn’t capitalize.’
The win continues Reds record of never losing at the Alpas Arena since Hartpury’s promotion five seasons ago.
