THE Jersey Select XV, made up from players from all of the Island’s junior rugby teams, wants to prove that it can beat its Guernsey equivalent, at home, tomorrow afternoon.
For although the Island side beat Guernsey, away, last year, in the JRA inter-insular, the year before Guernsey were easily the better side at St Peter, with the game all but sewn up by half-time.And, with both islands having won two games apiece since the competition began, Jersey coaches Ian Anderson and Mark White want to make certain they send out a team which will snub out any Guernsey thoughts of victory from the start.’We’re expecting them to have a big pack and to keep it tight,’ said White.’So we need to match them in the forwards which is why we’ve gone for a solid front five, with Les Quennevais’ normal No 8, Roy Le Lievre, moving into the second row.’We’ve had 29 players turning up for training over the four nights and selection was difficult.’But we’ve a scrum-half, in Steve Mee, and stand-off, in Darren Toudic, who are used to each other’s play and winger Richard Finch is a very strong, pacy player.’We’ve young Nick Trower at No 8 and although we could have selected more than one Wanderers’ player we decided we wanted a younger team to enjoy the experience.
The captain is Richard Vetier and yes, I believe we can win.’The Guernsey side might not have as many players to pick from with the team made up from Guernsey 2nds and St Jacques, but with the 2nds riding high in the JRA Emeraude Lines League, they want to prove they are not just a ten-man line-out-and-maul XV.’Training on Thursday night went very well,’ said St Jacques’ captain Steph Bampton.’We’ve no set plan but we’ve an experienced pack and some exciting backs, so we’ll simply go out, and play accordingly.
It will be a very close game.’The JRA inter-insular is at Grainville with a 1pm kick-off and if Jersey do win, to go 3-2 up in the series, it will be the first time they have won two JRA inter-insulars in a row.The game is sponsored by Emeraude Lines.Jersey: Jim Fitzmaurice (Beeches), Sean Queripel (United Banks), Jim Brimlow (Beeches), Richard Vetier (Les Quennevais), Roy Le Lievre (Les Quennevais), Michael Soley (Jersey), Niall Brennan (United Banks), Nick Trower (United Banks), Steve Mee (Jersey), Darren Toudic (Jersey), Richard Finch (United Banks), Arnou Helmholt-Kneisel (Jersey), Brett Ireland (Beeches), Mark Le Mottée (Jersey), Jimmy McCormack (United Banks).
Replacements: Wayne Andrieux (Jersey), Kenny Moore (Jersey), Ivan Murphy (United Banks), Dan Ireland (Beeches), Hugh Bonn (Jersey).
Article posted on 21st February, 2004 - 12.00am
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