JERSEY Rugby Football Club drew 20-20 against North Walsham in front of a bumper crowd of well over 1,000 at St Peter on Saturday.

But the Island side could well have won this match, which was their third in London Division 1. The reason why they didn’t? Simply a ten-minute lapse in concentration during which time Walsham scored twice, either side of half-time, which resulted in a 15-3 Jersey lead shrink first to 15-10, following the conversion, and then disappear to 15-17 immediately after the break following a try by No 14, Tom Holt.

Only in the last quarter did Jersey reassert themselves to achieve the 20-20 draw. Even so, Jersey’s coach, Ben Harvey, was disappointed. ‘’I was disappointed not to have won, but they would have been disappointed if they’d lost,’ he said. They’ve been used to scrapping it out over the years, to stay in a higher division.

‘With (Jersey) conceding a try, just before half-time, they came out for the second half when their confidence was up. We’ll come across other teams like North Walsham later on in the season. After two wins, this was very much a wake-up call for us.’

• Picture: Jersey centre Sam Tuia looks to avoid the attentions of Tom Holt. Picture by Richard Wainwright (00591175)