JERSEY RFC’s Ross Allan impressed in the Hampshire under-20s 30-20 win against Middlesex at the Trojans ground yesterday – one of five club juniors turning out for the county at the weekend.

Although he failed to get his name on the scoresheet, he was marked out for his tremendous defensive duties by Hampshire manager Peter Allen.’Our tackling was excellent, especially in the backs with Ross Allan, who I thought was superb, alongside Basingstoke’s Anthony Allen and Matthew Guilfoyle,’ the manager said.’The whole team gelled well and we have given ourselves a chance to progress through to the next round of this national counties competition.’We need to beat Surrey in a fortnight and if we play like we did today, we certainly can do that.’ Middlesex beat Surrey by over 30 points in their opening encounter so Hampshire need as many points against them as possible if they are have a chance of going through.Allan wasn’t the only Jersey player to join up with the under-20s Hampshire team at the weekend.For, after playing his part in Jersey’s 13-8 win against London Irish Amateurs at St Peter on Saturday, hooker Josh Chamier flew over as a late replacement, to play a full 80 minutes in an impressive front row, as Allen was forced to make nine changes to his original side.

Even with those changes and a half-time scoreline of 6-6, with two penalty kicks apiece, Hampshire’s ability to play a 15-man game saw them dominate the second half.Hampshire ran out deserved 30-20 winners.So, too, did their under-17s sides, whose A-team beat Sussex A 33-22 before their B-team thrashed Sussex B 71-7.Three Island boys played for Hampshire, and afterwards manager Ed Neville praised the efforts of Ross Kenwright who, he felt, was ‘outstanding in loose play and was everywhere he was required to be’, while full-back Phil Lane did no harm at full-back where he was part of a rampant back-line division.The two Highlands College and De La Salle students played for the A-team while, in the B-team, Bruno Pirouet (Jersey and Haulieu) scored one of Hampshire’s tries in the nine-try rout.