Jersey RFC v Leicester Tigers

Jersey V Leicester Tigers Well, how do you start? What a great day out Saturday was.Not the result we wanted, but the performance was better than I could have wished for.

I arrived around 1.30 to find the ground already filling with eager Leicester and Jersey fans, the sound system doing its usual echo effect and people queuing for beer, pork rolls and hot dogs. Glorious sunshine overhead, but a strong gusty wind from the west.

Just before 2o’clock, who should pop out of the changing rooms? None other than Toby Flood. He started pinging a few kicks around the hallowed turf of St Peters and having a little chat with some of the Leicester Faithful who were hanging over the hoardings.

Toby Flood getting some practice in.

Of course, shortly after the real team (JRFC) came out onto the pitch. This is the first time I’ve seen them since the end of last season, (excluding the odd spotting in town or Coffee Republic) and what a change there is. Gone are most of the bellies from the forwards, the rest of the team were looking bigger than last year too. The one down side form the team coming back this season is the rather fantastical facial hair of David Markham, I couldn’t believe what I was looking at!

I assume he won the bet. :D

Anyway, back to the game.

So far this season, Leicester had 80 minutes under their and Jersey were out on the pitch for the first time together, so as expected the first few minutes were spent sizing each other up.

4 minutes: B&I Representative Geoff Parling barrels towards the line, held up by (amongst others) Fred Silcock.

A minute later Former All Black Scott Hamilton made a great incisive move to free Parling to go over in the corner for the opening Try, the way that Leicester were lining up made it clear this was going to be a difficult afternoon.

The conversion was missed, Flood appearing to struggle from the Tee.

10 minutes of two teams going at each other full throttle ensued, smart handling and passing from both teams from the breakdown, led to a tennis effect for many supporters as the team’s tooed and froeed inside the Leicester half. A great defensive effort by Leicester turned over a Jersey ruck and a missed tackle (well, I think it was a great hand off to be fair) left Vereneki Goneva clear to run in the first of his 2 tries.

Flood again missed the conversion, opting to kick from the floor, however, the kick went into touch on the far side of the pitch instead of near the posts.

Jon Brennan went down shortly after the restart, with what appears to be an Achilles injury (but he’s hoping to be back ASAP) this seemed to unsettle the previously sturdy(ish) Jersey 5. That was until Elvis decided to enter the fray and flattened Dan Cole, the crowd seemed to perk up a bit and the noise crept up as Jersey pressured the Leicester 22. Nick Griffiths recycled the ball well from ruck to ruck, getting the team spreading left and right, inching towards the 5m line, then O’Connor broke from the base of a ruck, feeding to Drew Locke (on a fabulous left to Right run) who had great delight in piling over the try line to get Jersey on the board.

O’Connor then converted to make the score 7-10 and Jersey could smell the lead…….

31 Minutes: A rather sloppy scrum from Jersey (who were under pressure from a an international class pack) left Leicester on the attack. Parling who had now found his stride was causing all sorts of issues down the wing, a great darting run and a few broken tackles and Paling fed to Steve Mafi (Leicester’s MOM) to score under a pile of red and white shirts.

Flood converted the relatively easy kick. 7 – 17.

The Leicester forwards were causing a lot of problems for the Jersey Scrum, and at will they switched play to bring the backs into it, stretching Jerseys defence left and right. Some great last man defence prevented Leicester from increasing their lead, until approaching half time, where a rolling maul set up on the Jersey 22 couldn’t be stopped and trundled ever closer to the try line, this time Julian Salvi crashed over from the back of it.

Flood missed again. 7-22.From the restart Leicester attacked with vengeance, a “shinned” clearance from the Jersey 5m line was chased by a speeding Ed Dawson, who (for the want of a lucky bounce) would have been clear away from his own 22. Unfortunately, the ball bobbled out of his kick just as he was about to strike the ball and the counter attack fizzled out. Half time and a chance for Jersey to catch their breath.

Plenty of new faces in the second half for both sides, including the introduction of back row Tom Croft. Jersey started the second half fully committed and with tenacity, but as forecast the class of Leicester began to tell, with sharp hands amongst the forwards leaving a gap for scrum half David Mélé to go over, with Flood's missing the conversion and then being subbed.

55 minutes: Jersey were slowing slightly in midfield and some fabulous handling and passing presented Goneva the easiest of run-ins to extend the lead. Owen Williams on for Flood looked a lot more comfortable kicking, slotted the kick to give the Tigers a 34-7 lead.

Jersey seemed o find another gear after this and were starting to get into the Tigers defence and cause them some problems. But a disastrous attempt to kick to touch from a penalty was hoofed forward, leaving the easiest of chases for Adam Thompstone to dot down. This deflated the crowd (after some great Jersey play) and the team seemed to drop a bit.

To compound this further, a great piece of Leicester play led to the next score by Jamie Gibson. I was not at the right end of the pitch but most spectators agreed that t was a forward pass that led to the touchdown. Not that it would have affected the outcome, but it seemed to drop Jersey heads further.

Williams struck another superb kick from the left-hand side. 7 – 48.

Leicester brought on the 3^rd set of front row players, the Jersey forwards were tiring and a quick duo of tries from Ryan Lamb (both converted by Williams) seemed to put the nail in the coffin of the Jersey team. A late Henry Purdy try and final successful conversion led to a somewhat un flattering score line 0f JRFC 7 – 69 Leicester Tigers, but I don’t think a single Jersey fan would say their team played badly. They were simply outclassed against a powerful, well drilled Premiership side.

Give it a few years and I expect Leicester will be turning down the pre-season friendlies as we will have beaten them in the Prem………..(wishful thinking eh?)

Match Stats:

Attendance:3,212

Star Man (Jersey):O'Connor

Star Man (Tigers):Mafi

Half time:7-22

Scorers

Jersey

Try:Locke 25
Conversion:O'Connor 25

Leicester Tigers

Tries:Parling 5, Goneva 14, 55, Mafi 31, Salvi 39, Mele 50, Thompstone 59, Gibson 62, Lamb 71,77, Purdy 79
Conversions:Flood 31, Williams 55, 59, 62, 71, 77, 79