A CANCELLED flight home may have disrupted Jersey Reds’ Championship Cup trip to Nottingham, but it will not have been enough to dampen their spirits in the wake of another comfortable victory.
Forward dominance and five tries in the first half set the stall at Lady Bay yesterday afternoon, and despite a more even second-half display, the Islanders started their tournament campaign almost perfectly.
Translating their league form into the cup continues Jersey’s 100% winning run into its eighth game. A 38-12 success – against tier two’s most improved team this season – pleased director of rugby Biljon, who made ten changes to his squad.
He said: ‘A fantastic first-half performance in tough conditions. Pressure told through those first ten minutes in the second half and we continued to get a few scores but Nottingham kept coming back at us and scored a great try so credit to them.
‘On the whole, all 23 players got on the field, yes we made lots of changes but there’s a great feeling within the squad and the group, so we can continue to drive that competition for places and players keep putting their hands up no matter who is selected.
‘Accuracy was a clear focus, making sure we could hold onto the ball in the right areas of the field, and then making sure our defence stood up and we could create some pressure with our defensive efforts.’
One standout performance was scrum-half Jonny Law, in his first start for the Islanders after signing in the summer from Leicester Tigers. He shone despite the weather, with his family making the journey from Leicester to come and watch him.
Biljon was full of praise, stating: ‘I’m really chuffed for Jonny, while he did get on against Caldy, he’s had to patiently wait behind James Elliott and James Mitchell, who have both been in great form this season.
‘He got an opportunity today, didn’t have to do anything special [but] it’s so important to just get there … make sure your distribution is on point, make sure your speed to break down is there, make sure your kicks are right and to give him credit he did it very well.’
Despite it being the cup, which has been criticised in some parts of the RFU hierarchy, Biljon believes it’s crucial for the Reds to continue their winning run, no matter what the competition.
He added: ‘It’s a good point about the cup, there’s a debate there about it being mid-season again and not at the end of the season like last year. You can analyse it across the board, but for us, we have tried to maintain what we’ve done through the first seven rounds of the league.
‘We’ve continued to move the squad, build that competition for places and give players their opportunity. Once again today those players have stepped up.
‘Our balanced attack really came through today but give Nottingham credit, they didn’t let us have it all our own way and you saw them get their try near the end so it was a full 80 minute game.’
