Holgate keeps his cool to put Jersey on the right track

JERSEY Reds’ DoR Harvey Biljon was a relieved man as his side put a difficult few weeks behind them at Ampthill’s Dillingham Park. The islanders had seen their promotion bid dented with back-toback defeats while Biljon had to watch the latter from the stands after an RFU sanction.

But, despite the Mob’s best defensive efforts, Jersey centre Jordan Holgate pierced through a narrow gap to score in the 68th minute and get the visitors back on song.

Biljon said: “I’m really impressed with the character that came through from the players. To come here and play against a team at home that are playing well and get the victory – I’ll take that.

“Ampthill didn’t crack and there was a crucial moment just before halftime where we weren’t rewarded for what looked like a maul going over and it meant we had to work really hard at the back end to make sure we were on the right side of the scoreboard.”

Despite not being the team in form and suffering several late changes, the visitors started the game well with fly-half Tom Pittman and fullback Scott Van Breda both showing plenty of creativity with the ball in hand.

Jersey were rewarded for their territory and possession when Van Breda zipped a ball wide and, after Will Brown offloaded, Pittman kicked through and beat team-mate Brendan Cope to dot down.

Reds’ dominated for the majority of the firsthalf but their usually effective driving maul couldn’t crack the Mob’s cover defence, and a sprinting counter attack from deep led to centres Ben Cambriani and Josh Bragman doing a onetwo before Cambriani slid over.

Van Breda kicked Reds into the lead before hooker Eoghan Clarke was sin-binned for foul play off the ball, and Ampthill took advantage almost instantly when replacement Kevin Baarrett broke through and openside Joe Bercis forced his way over.

The visitors kept their composure, and pressured the maroon and gold line of shirts until Holgate found the gap to secure a crucial win.

Ampthill’s Paul Turner said: “Other than our two tries it was a game of defending which kept us in the game but wasn’t going to get us the win.”