Amor, lost Love and bitten fingernails - Jersey
welcome London Scottish
The RFU Championship swings back into action after a two-week
hiatus for the opening rounds of the British & Irish Cup.
The B&I may be a distraction, but it's one that's been more
welcome for Jersey, who snapped a run of six league defeats by
drawing against Pontypridd and defeating Leeds Carnegie.
The Scots have been involved in two close battles, but ended on
the wrong end of narrow defeats at Gala (23-27) and at home to
Moseley (37-41). Three bonus points were harvested in consolation,
meaning Simon Amor's men still maintain an outside chance of
contending for the knock-out stages.
The results above confirm statistics showing that London Scottish
supporters have, on average, the shortest fingernails in UK rugby.
Highlights of this 'seat-of-the-pants' approach have come in the
final games of the last two seasons. In May 2011 promotion was
literally snatched from Barking's hands when David Howells
intercepted in the final minute of the National One decider and
raced the length of the pitch. A year later and relegation was at
stake in another winner-takes-all encounter against Esher, and the
Scots secured their Championship place thanks to another late
interception, this time by Charlie Hayter (yes, the same man who
scored a hat-trick at St Peter for Moseley six weeks ago).
While the 7th-placed Scots will be determined to stay clear of
relegation troubles this time around, Jersey know that a win is
crucial. 11th-placed Doncaster were another club to register some
improved results in the B&I, and success for the Knights in
Friday's home match with Moseley could open a gap on Jersey that
the Islanders would be anxious to close straight away. But a win
for Moseley at Castle Park would offer the prospect of Jersey
hauling themselves off the bottom of the Championship table with
victory at St Peter, so expect the highest levels of determination
from both sides.
There's every chance the clash with Jersey could be a high-scoring
encounter, as it features the two sides who have conceded the most
points and tries in the league thus far - Jersey 214/ 25 and
Scottish 228/ 28. Although sod's law could yet have a say in
setting up much lower-scoring affair - the beauty of rugby is that
you can never be quite sure.
News from the Jersey camp
Ben Harvey keeps faith with most of his personnel from the
successful trip to Yorkshire, as Jersey look to bring their
improved cup form into the league.
In the forwards, skipper Nathan Hannay and his predecessor Paul
Rodgers return to the starting XV, swapping places with Dave
Markham and James Voss, who both return to the bench.
In the backs, the only change to the starting XV see Brendan
O'Brien (above) come in for Dave McCormack, the same switch that
occurred in the 25th minute of the Leeds game when McCormack
suffered a groin injury.
"The players who were in action last weekend really stepped up and
deserve another chance," states Harvey. "Brendan had a great game
to cancel out the blow of losing an influential player like
'Macca'.
"Nathan had an hour's rest at the start of the Leeds game, and
then another 10 minutes in the sin-bin after he came on, so he is
fresh and raring to make a positive impact this weekend."
Jersey squad, sponsored by Locate Jersey and
jersey.com
1 Sean McCarthy
2 Steve Boden
3 James Gethings
4 Rob Anderson
5 Nathan Hannay (capt)
6 Paul Rodgers
7 Kingsley Lang
8 Guy Thompson
9 Brendan O'Brien
10 Mike Le Bourgeois
11 Ed Dawson
12 Ashley Maggs
13 Donovan Sanders
14 James Copsey
15 Glenn Bryce
Replacements
16 Richard Barrington
17 Jon Brennan
18 James Voss
19 Dave Markham
20 Nick Trower
21 Ed Tellwright
22 Barry Davies
Any previous?
In a word, no. The two sides haven't met before, not even in a
tour game. And links between the clubs are surprisingly few and far
between (unless I've missed any). From the Jersey camp, Ben Harvey
and Guy Thompson both used to play at the Richmond Athletic Ground,
but that was in the colours of Richmond, not Scottish.
Former JRFC Chairman Cliff Chipperfield did play for London
Scottish in the early 1980s while he was a student in London, and
anyone who's interested (form an orderly queue please) can ask
Cliff to point out some pictures of himself in the Scottish
clubhouse when the return match takes place on March 2nd.
London Scottish in 2012/13
Director of Rugby Simon Amor has had a busy summer with plenty of
new signings coming in both on and off the pitch as he prepared the
squad to improve on last season's 9th place finish.
Amor said: "It's been a busy summer of recruitment, both with the
players and the support staff; it has been really non-stop since
the final whistle against Esher. We need to kick on from our first
season in the Championship and we have learnt a lot of lessons of
the type of game that is played in the Championship. It's important
we improve on the 9th place finish from last year."
Scottish had the start they wanted with a 26-20 opening weekend
success over Rotherham at the RAG, but the luck of the draw saw
them face Newcastle Falcons the following weekend. The match was
lost by 32-49, although the margin was the smallest for the Falcons
so far (equal with their 37-20 opening day win at Brizzle).
The challenge didn't get any lesser for the Scots as they went to
Bedford, and lost 55-20, but they recovered to notch wins at home
to Doncaster (37-26) and the Pirates (25-24), rudely interrupted by
a 54-9 drubbing at Nottingham.
Simon Amor (above) is the youngest Head Coach/ DoR in the
Championship at 33-years-old. He has been at the club for four
years and played around 80 games in four seasons. He became Head
Coach in May 2010 and DoR 18 months later, and has not yet laced up
his boots this season in a playing capacity.
Amor was a sevens specialist until his arrival at the RAG,
including helping his country to four successive Hong Kong Sevens
titles in the mid-noughties as England belatedly proved they could
take the reduced form of the game seriously and achieve success in
it. During this period he was also on the books of Gloucester and
Wasps but his 15-a-side game time was limited by sevens
commitments.
Scottish make three changes to the backline from their 37-41
defeat to Moseley in the B&I Cup, with Dave McCall and Miles
Mantella replacing James Love and Gerard Mullen on the wings and
Andy Reay drops to the bench with Oli Grove replacing him at
outside centre.
The loss of Love is a blow to the visitors - the former Plymouth
man (247 points last season) made a stunning start to his time
chez Ecosse with all 26 points against the Titans on
September 2nd.
Fly-half Phil Godman has won 18 caps for Scotland, although he
has not represented his country since the Calcutta Cup draw with
England in March 2010.
In the front row, props Mark Irish and Aaron Liffchak come in
for Alex Clarke and Colin Quigley and there is one change in the
second row, with Paul Spivey replacing Sam Twomey.
Director of Rugby Simon Amor has paid credit to his side's
opponents and their progress in recent years: "Jersey's rise
through the leagues has been very similar to London Scottish's.
What has been achieved in recent seasons under the guidance of Ben
Harvey, who I have huge respect for as a coach, has been
fantastic.
"We are aware of how difficult a place it is to go and play at
Jersey, and we will have to be at our absolute very best in both
attack and defence to get a result."
London Scottish squad:
15 Jim Thompson
14 Dave McCall
13 Oli Grove
12 PJ Gidlow
11 Miles Mantella
10 Phil Godman
9 Richard Bolt
1 Mark Irish
2 Adam Kwasnicki
3 Aaron Liffchak
4 Paul Spivey
5 Tyler Hotson
6 Chevvy Pennycook
7 Ben Lonergan
8 Mark Bright
Replacements
16 Alex Clarke
17 Marcus Bloomberg
18 Colin Quigley
19 Alex Karonias
20 Ben Russell
21 Ross Samson
22 Andy Reay
London Scottish - two to watch
Dave McCall. 25 year old Scotsman Dave McCall
joined London Scottish from Rotherham Titans in the summer. He has
immediately bedded into life at The Athletic Ground having been to
school with club captain Lewis Calder and then joined later in the
summer by fellow school mate Ross Samson.
With Heineken Cup rugby experience under his belt from his time
at Glasgow, McCall brings a wealth of experience to the London
Scottish back line.
Jim Thompson. The 27 year old Scotland A and
Scotland Sevens international already has a London Scottish
connection as the nephew of 2012 London Scottish Hall of Fame
Inductee, Alan Lawson. His cousin, Gregor Lawson, is also a former
London Scottish player.
Thompson, a regular with the Scotland Sevens side, joined up with
the London Scottish squad in early August. London Scottish worked
closely with the Scottish Rugby Union to bring Thompson to the club
and he brings a wealth of experience into the London Scottish
backs, having recently been a part of Edinburgh's impressive
2011/12 Heineken Cup campaign, scoring in the semi final v
Ulster.
History of London Scottish FC
Like many fine institutions, London Scottish FC was formed in a
pub, namely Mackay's Tavern in the City of London on April 10th
1878. The club adopted the colours they still wear to this day,
albeit with fewer sponsors' logos, and in the first season were
captained by their Chairman, Begbie Gibson. The first season
featured 15 matches, and three of the opposing clubs are still in
existence - Wasps, Twickenham and Guy's Hospital.
Bill MacLagan captained the club in the 1880s for five seasons and
was the first player to win a cap for Scotland. The club continued
to thrive adding respected opponents like Oxford and Cambridge
Universities and Harlequins to the fixture list and after a short
period at Lee and then Brondesbury, moved to Old Deer Park in
Richmond as tenants of Richmond Cricket Club and then in 1894 to
their present ground the Richmond Athletic Ground, which they share
with Richmond Football Club.
The club prospered, establishing an excellent playing reputation
and attracting many fine players who represented their country,
some of whom went onto play for the British Lions. In fact since
the club was formed, this heritage has produced in the region of
220 Scottish Internationals and the same number of Lions captains
as Leicester Tigers with four (MacLagan, David Bedell-Sivright in
1903/4, Mike Campbell-Lamerton in 1966 and Gavin Hastings in
1993).
Other Scottish internationals worthy of mention include a
proliferation of back-row men - Mike Biggar, Rob Wainwright, Derek
White and Ian Smith - as well as Paul Burnell, Alastair McHarg,
Allan Lawson and Kenny Logan. Logan scored the last try of his
competitive career for Scottish in December 2005 in a fiery
encounter against Richmond, won 27-25 by the landlords.
The South African Jannie de Beer was the best-known 'overseas'
players during the short-lived time in the Premiership (see
below).
The club began the league era in 1987 at level two, and by 1998
were a full-professional unit playing in the Premiership. However
this was also the season that the professional club went into
administration, necessitating a year out while the original club
was reformed and placed into Herts/ Middlesex Division One (level
nine) in 2000.
Four successive promotions kick-started the revival, and in the
past six seasons Scottish have been promoted on three further
occasions to return to their original status when the leagues began
25 years ago. To call it a roller-coaster might do inadequate
justice to the ride.
Coming to St Peter
Don't forget it's a 2pm start. Tickets for the match are £15 for
adults, £10 for Jersey members on production of a membership card,
£3 for juniors (13 to 16 inclusive) and free to those aged 12 and
under. These will be on sale at the club shop between 10am and 1pm
on Friday. Later on Friday, the Barclays Pavilion will be open for
an eve-of-match reception open to all supporters, with the chance
to have a pint, enjoy some free nibbles and pick up your tickets.
Tickets will then be on sale on the gate from 11.30am on Saturday,
with the ground and facilities open from then onwards.
Following the game
Don't forget that you can keep up-to-speed with news from Jersey v
London Sccottish through the following channels:
• Preview on BBC Radio Jersey's 'Sportscene' from 6- 7pm on
Friday, and live commentary on Saturday afternoon (available online
and on your transistor-wireless device
• Preview in Friday's JEP, more rugby in Saturday's
Inside Centre pull-out, including plenty of Welsh-related content,
and full match coverage on Monday
• Scoreflashes on @jerseyrfc Twitter and the 'Rolling Maul' rugby
forum
• Match report on Channel 103 soon after the final whistle on
Saturday, plus updates during the match
• Reports and match action on Channel TV online and on Monday
evening at 6.15pm; and on BBC Channel Islands on Monday evening at
6.30pm
The Championship this weekend
Friday: Doncaster v Moseley; Newcastle v Rotherham
Saturday: Plymouth v Nottingham
Sunday: Bristol v Bedford; Cornish Pirates v Leeds
And finally
While there wasn't much previous in respect of the two teams,
there will be a familiar face in charge of tomorrow's game. In 2009
some sadist at Twickenham thought it would be a good idea to
appoint an up-and-coming 21-year-old referee to the annual Siam Cup
clash between Jersey and Guernsey. The game in which seasoned
international ref Donal Courteney had struggled to maintain control
just four years previously.
Anyway, Luke Pearce (above) survived the
potential ordeal (Jersey won 34-6), and the noisy evening in the
clubhouse which followed it, and has since gone on to the
Premiership and the IRB Sevens circuit. It's great to see him back
- the second Pearce on duty at St Peter this season after his
father Andrew was Touch Judge for the pre-season game against
Leicester.
Other rugby action this weekend sees the Jersey Colts team take on
Hereford Cathedral School at 11am on Saturday at St Peter. The same
day Beeches play Jersey Wanderers, also at 11am, while at 1pm Banks
Ladies host Guildford in a league encounter. On Sunday Jersey
Athletic host Guernsey 2nds at St Peter, starting at 12.30.
Enjoy your weekend's rugby
Tom Innes
