JERSEY RFC are away for one of their most crucial games of the season, against London South Division II leaders Sutton and Epsom today.

If they lose and second-laced Old Colfeians win gaining promotion will be extremely tough.

As director of coaching Dai Burton explained earlier this week, Sutton’s first defeat of the season, by Old Colfeians last Saturday, did his Island side no favours at all in their efforts to make the play-off spot of second place.

‘Apparently Sutton leaked a try to Old Colfeians in midfield, but that was the worst result of the weekend for us, because it keeps Old Colfieians four points ahead,’ said Burton.

‘Sutton and Epsom will get promotion.

They deserve to be at the top of the table.

We’ve now four games to play that could turn around our season.

‘We’ve picked a powerful side against Sutton and we’ve also selected a midfield with our defence in mind.

‘When we last played against Sutton, at home, we had an equal amount of possession but we looked nervous on the day; we also gave away one golden scoring opportunity and were caught in possession, which meant we gave away an interception try.

We lost to them 22-13, but we should have scored and effectively gifted them 13 points.

‘We don’t intend to do that on Saturday.

If the weather is anything to go by, it will be a very heavy pitch on which is why we’ve three replacement pack players on the bench.

Any one of them is good enough to have been selected from the start.

‘It might seem an odd thing to say, but in poor conditions you don’t want to have too much possession.

That way you can play the pressure game.

‘I don’t anticipate it being pretty rugby.

But what we’ve got to start doing now is taking our chances.

We didn’t do that last weekend when we had up to 80 per cent of possession.

Hopefully, in the next four games we’ll see the best of Graham (Smith, the new Kiwi stand-off) while Kearn Yates had an excellent game last week; his work rate was immense.’ Ryan Morgan, whose impact on the game against Beckenham last Saturday was immediate, when he came on as scrum-half and scored a match-winning try, keeps his place in the side while captain Steve O’Brien moves from full-back to centre.

Meanwhile Jim Milner is selected on the wing with former youth player Mark Le Mottée filling in at full-back.

‘Mark’s very good under the high ball while Jim’s strong and fit,’ said Burton.

If Jersey lose and Old Colfeians win, promotion could be at least one game too far ahead of them.

However, depending on the conditions, and if Jersey go into the game in the right frame of mind, an upset could be on the cards.

A lot, though, will depend on the mood of the pack.

And Burton is right to talk about grinding out a win.

Saturday’s game won’t be pretty, but it could be close.