Jersey's first-ever night match ended in a sorry defeat to a
Plymouth Albion side who were able to celebrate their first win in
18 competitive matches, a run stretching back to early March.
The men from Devon had suffered two defeats to Jersey already
this season, but richly deserved the spoils after a display of
controlled determination.
Fly-half Declan Cusack was at the heart of Plymouth's effort with
some fine kicking both from hand and from the tee, and opened the
scoring with an eight-minute penalty.
Albion's start was unpromising, with early signs of the lineout
fallibility that was a key factor in the defeat to Jersey on the
same ground three weeks earlier. But the visitors could take
greater heart from the form of Declan Cusack - making his first
start since recovering from long-term injury the fly-half was
controlling territory for his side with a series of probing
kicks.
Cusack also had an early chance to get his eye in from the
kicking tee, courtesy of a Jersey player's failure to roll away,
and stroked over a straightforward penalty.
Cusack launched an up-and-under virtually straight from the
restart; Jersey full-back Ross Jones-Davies knocked on and the ball
fell to Lewis Warner who surged forward 35 metres and was tackled
close to the line. Albion support arrived rapidly, and Eoghan Grace
plunged over for the try, which Cusack converted.
Shortly afterwards the lead was stretched to 13 points when
Cusack fired a 40-metre penalty efforts between the posts following
a Jersey scrum infringement.
It was all Albion, and even when Jersey had possession they
struggled to clear their lines. Scrum-half Ryan Glynn twice had
clearance kicks charged down, and on the second occasion - Ben
Woods the Albion player to credit - Neale Patrick followed up to
score.
The early lineout wobbles aside, Albion played 35 minutes of
error-free rugby and it was a surprise when Cameron Setter put too
much power into a kick ahead that bounced way beyond the dead-ball
line. In contrast Jersey made several handling errors, were on the
wrong end of the penalty count and were failing to secure reliable
lineout ball.
The Islanders had their moments as the half came to a close, but
a 10-man lineout move came to nothing after being overthrown, an
Aaron Penberthy penalty clearance missed touch and another lineout
was lost, and in fact Albion could have scored a third try just
before the whistle, only to be held up just short.
The home side started with purpose after the resumption and made
a number of substitutions in a bid to seize the initiative. There
was some improvement: Penberthy had a kickable penalty but couldn't
make it count but soon afterwards an attacking lineout led to a
rolling maul and then the ball was worked to the right for Grant
Pointer to score, with the conversion added.
Two more converted tries were needed by Jersey, but in fact
Plymouth were rarely threatened and Albion stretched their lead to
16 points thanks to a Cusack penalty, the last contribution of a
display that earned him the man-of-the-match award from sponsor
Cazenove Capital Management.
At this stage Jersey's ambitions were in reality limited to a
losing bonus point. Nick Haining powered over from close range for
the hosts' second try, but Albion held firm in relative comfort for
a win that was loudly celebrated as the Jersey players and
supporters trudged away in dejection.
JERSEY: Ross Jones-Davies, Grant Pointer, David
Bishop (capt), Tobias Hoskins#, Mark McCrea, Aaron Penberthy, Ryan
Glynn; Ignacio Lancuba#, Gareth Harris#, Nick Selway#, Nick
Campbell, Dave Markham#, Michael Noone, Joe Buckle#, Paula Kaho.
Replacements: Sam Lockwood (60), Martin Garcia-Veiga (46),
Danny Herriott (66), Alex Rae (49), Nick Haining (44), Nicky
Griffiths, Lewis Robling (61).
ALBION: Jack Arnott#, Lewis Warner, Ben Woods,
Marc Koteczky, Ben Foley, Declan Cusack, Cameron Setter; Luke
Chapman#, Sam Matavesi (capt), Andy Tiedemann#, Tom Jubb, Neale
Patrick#, Rob Langley, Eoghan Grace, Sam Simmonds#.
Replacements: Tom Harrison (61), Dan Pullinger (61), Ali
Bone (66), Rhys Oakley (HT), Jake Henry, Josh Davies, Lawrence
Rayner (69)
Key: # player replaced; (45) minutes replacement
used
REFEREE: Fergus Kirby (RFU)
SCORERS:
Jersey: Tries: Pointer 54, Haining 73; Cons: Penberthy
54, 73
Albion: Tries: Grace 10, Patrick 21; Cons: Cusack 10, 21;
Pens: Cusack 8, 16, 65
CARDS: None
ATT: 2,204
Report by Tom Innes
