Ambitious Reynolds plotting to close gap on Jersey

HAVING helped lead Guernsey to the rarefied heights of Level 5, Aussie rugby director Jordan Reynolds is plotting the next stage of the club’s bid to close the gap on fierce Channel Island rivals Jersey by winning promotion to National Two.

Jersey’s meteoric rise to the Championship has left Guernsey in their wake, but Reynolds, who hails from the Snowy Mountains south-west of Sydney, wants to cap his 11th year at the club by leading Guernsey to a fourth promotion in 10 seasons.

Reynolds told TRP: “We have gone from London Three to National Three and shown good progress to get up the leagues, but we want to achieve more now and we’d like to get up into National Two and see what we can manage there.

“Whether it’s achievable this year I don’t know, but we have a development plan and there’s a great pathway of players pushing through.

“We’ve got one of the best stadiums, with a great clubhouse, and we’re averaging crowds of 700-800, with 1,000-plus if we’re winning. So Guernsey’s rugby-loving public are very supportive of what we’re trying to do.”

Guernsey compete with Jersey in often less than neighbourly fashion for the annual Siam Cup, the third oldest honour in rugby behind the United Hospitals Cup and Calcutta Cup.

In recent years Jersey’s progress to the Championship has meant results becoming more one-sided, but Reynolds has ruled out an arms race to match their cashed-up rivals.

He explained: “We don’t have the ambition to move up the leagues as quickly as Jersey have because they had a lot of money behind.

“But our ambition is to keep progressing and we’ll do it at our own pace - our number one priority is to keep the club sustainable.”

Reynolds, 34, is in his third year as rugby director having joined as a fly-halfcum-centre in 2006.

He added: “I played grade rugby back home before doing some travelling, but having come to Guernsey for a year I ended up staying. There’ve been massive changes at the club but the wheels are starting to turn.”