Eight-try Reds keep the heat on leaders

Reds stayed on the trail of league leaders Ealing by registering a dominant win over Nottingham.

In difficult windy conditions, the Reds scored eight tries, taking their tally for the past four games to 35, and left director of rugby Harvey Biljon a happy man.

“To use the old cliché we had a game of two halves,” he said. “We wanted to make a fast start, build on territory and take some scores, and did that impressively.

“Nottingham kept playing and we had to put in some long defensive sets to keep them out, so I was happy with that side of our game too.”

After a Russell Bennett clearance kick was blown over the dead-ball line from 70 metres out, the home side set out to break the deadlock. Tom Everard made good ground and passed to his second row partner James Scott, who went close before the ball was fed quickly wide and Jordan Holgate crashed over.

James Hadfield crossed from a maul for the Reds’ second, and when another maul was brought down, referee Joe James ran to the posts to signal a penalty try, sin-binning Nottingham’s George Cox in the process.

Holgate glided through a gap for his second to secure a bonus point on the half-hour, and the hosts finished the half on a high as Sam Grahamslaw powered through a gap and found fellow prop Adam Nicol, who charged to the line and dived over.

Playing into the breeze, the Reds added a sixth within three minutes of the resumption as replacement Dan Barnes squeezed over, but Nottingham finally got on

the scoreboard after a sustained period of attack which finished with David Williams stretching to score.

The two sides claimed another try apiece soon after the hour, both scored by replacements: Eoghan Clarke from the maul for the Reds and Josh Poullet from close range for the visitors.

The final act of the match saw Jersey’s Tomi Lewis pilfer the ball in midfield and race forward, drawing the last defender before finding Ben Woollett, who finished acrobatically in the corner. Bennett’s lastkick conversion was only his second miss from seven attempts, with an earlier effort coming back off the upright.

It was a hard day at work for the visitors, who suffered the cancellation of their outbound flight on Friday and only landed in Jersey a little over two hours before the delayed kick-off.