Big kick-off looms for Jersey Reds

Friday 02 September 2016

Jersey Reds coach Harvey Biljon has nothing but respect for newly-promoted Richmond, who his side will face on the opening day of the season tomorrow in London.

Richmond may be the only semi-professional outfit in the Championship this season, but they are packed full of high class experience and Biljon is not expecting anything another than a searching test of his players at the Athletic Ground (KO 14:00) in crowd of a passionate crowd.

“In the Championship, whatever game you have got ahead of you is going to be tough,” said the head coach. “Against Richmond we will be facing a club with a lot of history, who are in the Championship on merit having just gone up. There will be a lot of emotion around the game for them and I am sure they will believe they can put one over us.

“They have developed a winning habit in the last couple of season and will be very confident on their home ground.

“First up, I would have chosen the strongest team to face, maybe a London Irish or Yorkshire Carnegie, but it’s Richmond and we have to target them. I don’t think we can talk about Richmond in anything other than complimentary terms.

“Just because Richmond have decided not to train during the day doesn’t mean they are not athletes. Look at their front row, it’s full of Premiership experience such as Rupert Harden and Matt Corker was captain of London Welsh last year. Their squad is full of players with Championship and Premiership experience. Don’t even think they have not got players who know and understand what is coming. The fact that they went up so comfortably last season tells you all you need to know.

“We have Bedford the week after, which will be great because it is in front of our supporters and it promises to be a cracking fixture, but first and foremost we have to look after business against Richmond and that is going to be a tough, tough game.”   

Biljon’s squad has spent 12 weeks honing their skills for the big kick-off, with the players now ready to hit the ground running. 

“Training has been pretty scientific and game-based,” he said. “We have been trying to add new dimensions to our game, so there has probably been a bigger emphasis on skills, especially with ball in hand, rather than the mundane work of running.

“We have incorporated a lot more overall handling skills. It is not all just about collision, it about the skills as well these days, added to speed. Players have to deliver skills as well as the aggression. You have to take the contact with the opposition on your terms and take advantage of it.

“It is a much more all-round sport. They are athletes now. They are no longer just players in a specific position, they have to be able to adapt and that’s what we have been trying to develop in the off-season.  

“We have put in a lot of hard work and sacrifice in pre-season and the players can take a lot of confidence into the Richmond game because of the work they have done in preparation.”

Biljon’s pre-season matches could not have gone better. The Reds racked up nearly 50 points against Coventry, won a nine-try thriller over Ampthill, then got the better of Premierships stars Worcester Warriors 23-17.

This is their first clash against Richmond in five years, with the Reds winning 29-9 at St Peter on the way to promotion from National Two South the last time the clubs met.  

Biljon said: “We have had three really good results against three very good sides, including a Premiership team, which says a lot about our momentum going into the season.

“We put the players under pressure during those games, because we did a lot of things that weren’t the norm, like playing from deep, which asked questions of them. The fact they still thrived and performed in difficult situations says a lot. They had to problem solve – and they did.”