Nottingham swept aside by

JERSEY, having fallen behind to Nottingham in the first quarter, roared back into the game and finished convincing winners in their first outing of 2019.

The Reds racked up five tries to keep themselves in the mix at the top end of the table and set up an enticing contest with Bedford Blues next weekend, with both sides level on points.

Head coach Harvey Biljon was pleased to see his side brush aside the challenge of giving their visitors a nine-point start courtesy of three penalties by the Championship’s topscorer Shane O’Leary.

“We invited some pressure early on through some unforced errors, and Nottingham came out with real energy, but overall it was a great way to start the year – we need some real momentum with tough games to come,” he said.

The Reds were in immediate trouble after failing to field the kick-off, and soon conceded a penalty which O’Leary stroked over. He repeated the feat twice more as the home side again fell foul of the referee.

Jersey found their feet and having earned a penalty advantage, during which Brett Herron stabbed the ball through and collected to dive over by the posts. Another advantage was finished with equal ruthlessness, the ball worked quickly to Leroy van Dam who showed power and agility to finish in the corner.

With an appreciable wind at their backs, the Reds started strongly after the break. Herron stroked over a penalty and within two minutes was converting a try by Will Homer, who burst through the Green and White midfield

and hared to the line.

Although the visitors gave themselves hope with a try by skipper Murray McConnell, who took a scoring pass from Sean Scanlon after a powerful break by Will Millett, the Reds were still in top gear.

Herron, who amassed 21 points, added another penalty and completed a 100 per cent record by converting a brace of mauled tries scored by his hookers – Charlie Maddison, then replacement Nick Selway.

England wing Tom Varndell made his Nottingham debut on loan from Leicester Tigers but had few opportunities to show his attacking abilities.

Nottingham head coach Neil Fowkes said: “We had the wind and took the three-pointers early on, but Jersey came back with two good tries and the lead they had at the break looked enough in these conditions.

“It’s a tough place to come, especially if your discipline is off.”