COACH Dai Burton knew that the first round of their Powergen Intermediate Cup against Tottonians in Southampton was going to be tough for Jersey RFC when captain Steve O’Brien caught the ball in his own 22, following a ruck, and ran 75 yards to score in the first five minutes.

Darren Toudic converted, but after that, the rest of the first half turned sour.

‘It was a culmination of things,’ said Burton, in reflective mood, after the game.

‘It seemed too easy.

We were not in the right frame of mind having travelled down from Gatwick; we didn’t impose any authority in the first 30 minutes and we couldn’t up our game.

‘In the next 25 minutes they scored three tries.

Loose tackling was part of the reason for that, but in the first half there was a strange aura to the way we were playing – we had no control, even though Tottonians are joint bottom of the league we won promotion from at the end of last season.’ So Jersey, after such a quick score, went 22-7 down with only a third of the game having been played.

Tottonians, following two defeats so early in the season, couldn’t have believed their luck when first their full-back Richard Buck brushed past Ross Allan, then Richie Griffiths and finally Darren Toudic to score a converted try.

They then went ahead when their No 10 Paul Goodall kicked a penalty virtually from the Jersey kick-off as Paul Nayar was caught in possession; then to increase their lead when their left winger Simon Harrison finished off a three-quarter move to run in 40 yards to the line, making the score 15-7.

They were to go even further in front when confusion in the Jersey defence saw the ball loose on the floor.

Centre Robbie Searle put good use to the ball, kicked through, regathered and scored for a converted try – 22-7 to the good, Tottonians seemed well on top, and Jersey were in a daze as they tried, unsuccessfully, to raise themselves from their lethargy.

Only a quickly taken tap penalty by O’Brien, who then saw a gap and raced through to score with half-time looming, took them back into the game but, 22-14 down at half-time, the Jersey side were struggling.

‘I had a quiet chat with them at the interval,’ Burton explained.

‘They seemed to think the game would be won too easily.

There was a little bit of a breeze, and I told Darren (Toudic) to kick for territory.

We were also giving away too many penalties as players became isolated and held onto the ball.

After that, Tottonians blew up as they did last week against Winchester.

And, thankfully, our guys woke themselves up in the second half.’ By now John Allo was off the field, following his superb tackle on one of the Tottonian players, who didn’t like it, and promptly punched him, as he lay on the ground, unseen by the referee.

Jersey got the penalty but Allo was off with a bruised and bloodied eye.

So, although Burton was to use all of his substitutes, second row player Gareth Davies had to stay on the field as Harry Bonn took over from Allo, not Davies, as originally planned.

But Jersey’s enthusiasm for the game returned as O’Brien finished with a hat-trick, his third try coming when he intercepted a poor pass when Tottonians had actually won ball against the head, to make it 21-22 with half an hour still to play.

Two Toudic penalties, as Jersey enjoyed more possession than they had had during the previous 50 minutes made it 27-22 before, 60 minutes played, Bonn took a pass from 20 yards out and scored in the corner on his 1st XV debut.

Toudic converted.

With five minutes to go Jersey increased their lead.

A scrum on the left saw the ball recycled to replacement winger Steve Mee, whose inside pass to Paul Nayar was then handed on to Griffiths for the final score of the game.

So, a score of 39-22 probably flatters Jersey in their hunt for a trip to Twickenham, but Burton was full of praise for the way his side got back into the game after such a poor first half hour.

‘Harry Bonn played well when he came on, and Darren hit the post with a long range penalty.

Jim Brimelow also slipped when it looked like we’d score a forwards try and Karl Hayes could have scored from a cross kick before the ball bounced awkwardly and was booted into touch.

Next week will be a much tougher game.’ That game, at home, is against Maidstone – a team with their eyes seriously directed to the top of the league.