JERSEY RFC are facing a journey ‘on the motorway from hell’ before they arrive at the London Nigerian ground in North London tomorrow.

We fly out to Gatwick at 9 am and then we have at least a two-hour journey on the M25,’ explained coach Dai Burton as his side go into the unknown again, in their second game in the Powergen Intermediate Cup.

They will also be playing against a side who have won four of their last five games in their league, London II North, unlike Jersey, whose last two games have seen them concede 117 points.

To their credit, they have also scored 65 points, but Burton is under no illusion about the enormity of the task ahead of his side.

‘I believe that they (London Nigerian) like to run the ball from anywhere,’ he explained.

‘I also believe that they won those four games in the last few minutes.

If that’s true, I’m worried for my players because we flattered the last two sides we lost two in the last 20 minutes, by letting in easy tries.

‘From what I’ve been told, we can’t do that with this lot.’ The team he has selected is also very different to the one he picked last week.

At least five regular first team players are missing, for a variety of reasons; but in a way this could turn out to be a bonus both to Burton and to the 2nd team players he has promoted to the 1st team.

‘With so many changes we’ll be playing a simpler style of rugby, but this needn’t mean it will be any less exciting,’ he said.

‘And if the 2nd team players do take their chances, it will be hard to leave them out of the 1st XV in the future.’ In other words, the likes of Harry Bonn and Mark Le Mottée, who have shone in the 2nd team, with Le Mottée scoring a hat-trick of tries against Guernsey 2nds a week ago, can claim a regular 1st team place if they do well both in attack and defence.

The inclusion of Jon Swift also means he has more options in the threes, and he may even swap regular full-back Gareth Jeffreys and Swift, depending on how they – and the opposition – play the game.

As it is, Burton might be looking forward to another step into unknown territory .

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but not that snail-crawling coach ride on the M25.

Squad: Marcus Nobes, Josh Chamier, James Brimelow, Roger Quirk, Richard Vetier, John Allo, Ian Henderson, Harry Bonn, Paul Nayar, Darren Toudic, Mark Le Mottée, Matt Howe, Jon Swift, James Milner, Gareth Jeffreys, Dave Miles, Carl Hayes, Peter O’Connor, Danny McAllister.