IT is a measure of how far Jersey RFC have come that recording the biggest victory of the day in London I produced only muted celebrations from the players at St Peter on Saturday.

It was certainly a welcome and well-deserved victory over old rivals Portsmouth, and one that keeps third-placed Jersey on the tail of the leaders, but again coach Ben Harvey’s call to kill teams off went unanswered – a 21-0 half-time lead being followed by a 7-5 second-half loss.

The professional attitudes adopted by the squad certainly make for high expectations and that can’t be criticised. But a win is a win – and the three tries, from Charlie Clyde-Smith, Ryan Morgan and Ashley Maggs were all excellent scores in vastly different ways.

The visitors, boasting a big, hard-working pack, but an inexperienced back division that offered little threat, are not a high-scoring team – only bottom club Hayward’s have scored fewer points – so the victory was fairly safe at half-time. Frustratingly, Jersey then had to wait until the closing minutes to score again.

Picture: Man of the match Talite Viaoleti on the attack. Picture by David Ferguson (00601245)