Jersey Reds v Nottingham Rugby Friday 17th February 2023, 7:30pm

Chairman’s Welcome

We are up-for-the Cup on a Friday night, under the shining Jersey lights!

After a dominant display at Hartpury last week – a 7 tries to 1 win – the boys are on the verge of qualifying for the Cup semis if they can take at least 2 points from this week’s game against Nottingham Rugby.

Nottingham are always a tough team to play and we welcome their squad, support team, Directors and supporters. The Archers have only won one game in the Cup. Their league campaign is proving a tough one too, with just the 4 wins from 14 games. But regardless, they always look to throw ball around and are never easily subdued.

This is the last week of the Cup round-robin section. After this game, a well-deserved rest will be had by all the Reds’ contingent before we move in to the final stanza of what could be the club’s most significant league season in our history. With 8 games to go, we sit just 1 point behind Ealing Trailfinders. Who knows where this might take us?

Whilst on the subject of Trailfinders, the RFU’s announcement this week that Ealing has failed to meet the minimum criteria for promotion will really have put the cat amongst the pigeons! Ealing had earlier threatened to sue the RFU if they were denied promotion at the end of this season. Watch this space….

This week also brought some long-awaited answers to several - but not all - of the questions about the make-up of next season's Championship following the news about Wasps and Worcester Warriors over the past few months.

Meantime, let’s enjoy this week’s game!

Come on you Reds!!!

Today's Opposition

They may be out of contention in this season’s Championship Cup, but Nottingham will be looking to initiate a late-season bounce following a disappointing run of results.

After three wins from their opening four Championship fixtures, the Green-and-Whites were riding high, but following one further win – at home to Richmond – on October 21st they racked up 10 straight defeats in league and cup, broken only when they beat Hartpury 24-12 at Lady Bay in the cup two weeks ago.

The slump in form has seen the Archers drop to ninth in the table prior to resuming their league campaign with a re-arranged fixture away to 10th-placed Ampthill next weekend.

Nottingham and the Reds met for the first time in a cup competition when the Reds made the trip to Lady Bay in November and came away winners by 12-38. The visitors made a fast start with tries by Dan Barnes, Ryan Hutler and Russell Bennett within the opening quarter of an hour, and led 5-31 at the break, with just a single converted try for each side during the second period.

Five weeks later the league encounter at the Bay was a much closer affair, with nothing to choose between the sides at the break (10-10). Forward power was at the heart of the Jersey effort as they exerted greater pressure after the break, when TJ Harris completed a hat-trick, Eoghan Clarke added another and then Jordan Holgate completed the job in a win by 22-31. Former Jersey wing Ryan Olowofela scored two of the home side’s three tries.

December’s contest was the 19th league encounter between the sides over the past 11 seasons, with the series featuring 13 Jersey wins, five by Nottingham and a 19-all draw at the Bay in December 2017.

The Reds know that a win will guarantee progression to the semi-final stage of the cup in May as the best-placed runner-up or even – in the event of Ealing failing to achieve maximum points from their Friday night trip to Hartpury – as group winners. Cornish Pirates are also sure to progress, with Doncaster favourites for the remaining spot, although both Coventry and Ampthill retain outside chances of progressing.