Jersey cut out cake and find extra edge
SWAPPING ‘Bake Off’ for Dojang on a Thursday is one of many things Jersey have done to notch up performances and secure the Championship title.
The Reds have looked to epitomise the word elite in every aspect of their lives, to strive for “one per cent everywhere”.
The arrival of strength and conditioning coach Sam Handy has helped push that attitude over the past two seasons, and last weekend it finally saw Jersey get their first league win over title rivals Ealing since 2015.
Former Sale and Northampton scrum-half James Mitchell said: “A few things have really helped push us on. We’ve got a very good S&C coach in Sam Handy, and a few things he’s brought in this year has made the environment really professional.
“A couple of years ago we had cake in the changing rooms after training, we’ve got rid of stuff like that now, made the environment more professional, and when we train, it feels very elite. That’s the word we go on about, elite, and the other side of that is we enjoy it, and we enjoy each other’s company.”
The ex-England U20 scrum-half, older brother of Saints star Alex, believes that extra effort has helped galvanise everyone on and off the pitch.
He said: “Jersey’s a small island so you get so close to each other. We enjoy being with each other, we work hard on that, and have a meeting every Tuesday called Trademark where we get to know each other better and play fun games.
“That’s made us really close as a group; we lose together, and if we win we celebrate those together. That’s been massive when dealing with pressure.
“We just concentrate on week by week. Rob Webber has a great saying, the pressure is to do just your job, and if we have 15 lads executing our roles well, putting in that extra effort in set-piece, attack, defence, then we’ll have good days at the office.”
Nearly 4,000 packed in to St. Peters last weekend and back rower Tim Grey says it is just as stimulating as his time at Cardiff Blues and Wales U20s.
He said: “We have a session every Thursday at the Dojang, to do some wrestling and it makes the difference. Those small one per centers, like getting rid of Bake Off every Thursday in the changing room, that’s gone now.
“We talk about the little one per-centers all the time, and it shows. Everything we’ve done is about how can we be better and it’s worked.”