Select a region
Jersey Reds punished the Pirates after a pulsating display to record their best win of the season at St Peter, with Substitute Sam Katz slotting over an injury time penalty to secure the victory.
Harvey Biljon's side looked to be in total command as they powered to a 24-3 lead eight minutes after half-time following Nick Haining's barn-storming try, but the Pirates came roaring back to draw level, only for Katz to kick the winner.
It was a worthy win for the Reds, who have been through some tough times of late, not helped by the worst injury crisis in living memory at St Peter. It hasn't eased off either, as Regan King was injured in the warm-up, while influential fly-half Brendan Cope suffered a dislocated shoulder and will be out for at least eight weeks.
Lewis Robling was elevated to a starting position in the backs, as yet another injury affected coach Biljon's plans - only this time it was before the contest had even started.
It was a tense opening but a poor midfield mistake by the Reds almost handed the visitors a breakaway try, only for Jack Macfarlane to make a brilliant tackle to deny winger Will Cargill. Thankfully that was not a portent of things to come as Jersey totally dominated a one-sided first half.
A breath-taking ninth minute break by Robling as he snapped through his tackler presented Ross Adair with a try scoring chance from 40 yards out, which he duly took, with Cope adding the two conversion points to give the Reds an early advantage.
They continued in the same vein and after a period of sustained pressure, in the 18th minute, Jersey extended their lead. Scrum-half Sami Fisilau should have turned and dropped over the line, but instead he picked out skipper Nick Freeman, who powered over. This time it was an easier angle for Cope and he added the points to make it 14-0.
At this stage the Pirates were all at sea, with numerous handling errors, but the eye-catching aspect of this period was the dominance Jersey enjoyed up front, with scrum after scrum going their way.
Will Cargill missed with a penalty chance but two minutes later he finally got the Pirates on the scoreboard, slotting over from in front of the posts. But Jersey's 14 point advantage was restored on the half hour mark as Cope landed another penalty and they went into the break 17-3 ahead to roars of approval from the St Peter faithful.
Eight minutes after half-time and the match appeared to be over as Haining threaded his way over the line and Cope converted from under the posts.
But the Pirates were not done yet and as Jersey slacked off the match turned on its head with the visitors scoring three tries in six painful minutes. Tyler Gendall powered over, Sam Simmonds took advantage of some woeful Reds tackling and then winger Kyle Moyle ran half the length of the pitch, following a Jersey handling error.
Cargill kicked all three conversions, a terrific effort bearing in mind the swirling conditions. The last of his three, which went in off the post, made it 24-24 as suddenly Jersey had seen their lead evaporate.
This time though Jersey hit back. Cope missed a kickable penalty from 40 yards out, but the Reds kept the pressure up and as the clock ticked down the referee rightly awarded them another penalty, for a high tackle. With Cope injured it was left to Katz to take the match winning opportunity, which he duly did, nailing his penalty right between the posts.
It was too late for Pirates to come back again and at last Jersey tasted victory, their first in the league since the narrow win over Bedford on September 10th.
Haining and his fellow back row forwards were immense as the Reds celebrated at the final whistle and 'banging the boards' returned to St Peter.
Attendance: 1,504
Referee: Steve Lee
DSCF1967 from Bailiwick Express on Vimeo.
Comments
Comments on this story express the views of the commentator only, not Bailiwick Publishing. We are unable to guarantee the accuracy of any of those comments.