/*stop press squad changes - see
below*/
Jersey and Nottingham will meet for the fifth time in the
Championship with the ledger square after each side performed the
double.
Three of the previous matches were close, with the loser within
seven points and earning a bonus point; the exception was the first
meeting in October 2012 when a 48-16 thrashing remains one of
Jersey's three worst defeats at this level in terms of
margin.
Nottingham were flying high at the time, going on to finish second
in 2012/13, but suffered a dip in fortunes last season and were
outside candidates for relegation until the closing weeks of the
season.
Last season's Jersey double was made up of two nail-biters - the
second of them settled in the last move of the game when Jack
Burroughs dived over in the Jersey Bowl corner to wild home
celebrations (pictured below).
Now the Green & Whites are back in second spot. Not that you
can read much into the table after a fortnight, but certainly
Martin Haag will be the happier boss: his side have won both their
matches so far (19-10 at home to Bedford and 17-24 at
Plymouth).
News from the Jersey camp
Harvey Biljon is giving his new look Jersey squad time to gel and
opted against wholesale changes to his line-up for the trip to
Nottingham this weekend.
After Jersey gave up potentially winning leads to draw against
Moseley and lose to Doncaster in their opening games, Biljon has
made three changes to his starting XV, one in each row of the
scrum.
Skipper Alex Rae (pictured below) is back in the second
row of the scrum, replacing Dave Markham who switches to the bench.
At loosehead prop, Sam Lockwood has failed to recover from a calf
injury, giving Nacho Lancuba his first league start for the
Islanders.
The final change sees Nick Haining back at blindside flanker
after sustaining an eye injury at Moseley - he replaces Ben
Maidment.
Jersey's back line is unchanged, and so is the bench with the
exceptions of Grant Pointer, who will provide an additional
back-line option, and Markham.
/*STOP PRESS*/ On Saturday morning Jersey scrum-half Ryan
Glynn was ruled out of the match with illness, prior to the squad's
5.45pm flight to Birmingham.
Glynn's place has been taken by Nicky Griffiths, with Joel
Dudley coming onto the bench - see revised squad below with changes
in bold.
Jersey squad v Nottingham (A) Greene King IPA Championship,
Sunday September 21st, k-o 3pm
1. Ignacio Lancuba
2. Martin Garcia-Veiga
3. Harry Williams
4. Pierce Phillips
5. Alex Rae (capt)
6. Nick Haining
7. Ryan Hodson
8. Michael Noone
9. Nicky Griffiths
10. Jonny Bentley
11. Jack Burroughs
12. Lewis Robling
13. Drew Locke
14. Mark Foster
15. Tommy Bell
Replacements
16. Gareth Harris
17. Danny Herriot
18. Dave Markham
19. Paula Kaho
20. Joel Dudley
21. Mark McCrea
22. Grant Pointer
Any previous? (click for link to match
report)
October 2012 Nottingham 48 Jersey 16
February 2013 Jersey v Nottingham - match postponed
March 2013 Jersey 13 Nottingham 20
October 2013 Nottingham 19 Jersey
22
February 2014 Jersey 17 Nottingham 13
Nottingham - a potted history
Formed: 1877
Back in the day: the club were based at Ireland Avenue in
Beeston from 1904 until the ground was sold in 2006
Famous sons: VH Cartwright was Nottingham's first England
player, winning 14 caps in the early 1900s; In the 1980s, the club
had no less than five England caps: Gareth Rees, Rob Andrew, Brian
Moore, Chris 'Swing Low' Oti and Simon Hodgkinson, as well as the
Scotland lock Chris Gray. New Zealand lock Ali Williams played a
month of rugby with the Green-and-Whites as part of a successful
return from injury in early 2011. That's successful as in he won
the World Cup 10 months later...
Jersey connections: given the high volume of player
movements at this level, surprisingly few. Jersey tighthead Harry
Williams played 21 games for Notts last season and was
yellow-carded in the closing stages of the match at St Peter in
February as the home side pressed for victory.
Silverware: there doesn't look to have been much action
in the Green and White trophy cabinet of late, with the exception
of the Selkirk Sevens in 1991; the club were runners-up in the
National Merit Table in 1985/86 and finished second in the
Championship in 2012/13 before losing out to Bedford in the
play-offs
League history: Nottingham have spent most of the 27
completed seasons of the league era at level two, now the Greene
King IPA Championship - the club first entered this league in the
early 90s, and though relegated in 1996/97, they were back after
being promoted as runners-up at level three in 2003/04.
And finally
This stat is a week late, but relates to Jersey and Moseley's
record of draws prior to their 22-all score on the first weekend of
September. For the Midlanders it was the sixth draw in five seasons
(and one week) of league rugby since the Championship began in
2008. Although there was a 20-each Cup draw with Pontypridd in
October 2012, Jersey's last league draw was at level five in
October 2008, 6-all against Shelford, just a few weeks after a game
against North Walsham finished 20-20.
This weekend's rugby in Jersey: the Athletic are at home to Esher
on Saturday, with KO at 12noon, while on Sunday the third Jersey
side, the newly-named Buccaneers, take on LQ Lydian Lions at
1pm.
Enjoy your weekend's rugby!
Tom Innes
