Top-of-the-table clashes between unbeaten sides will invariably be enticing prospects, but there’s even greater anticipation for Jersey against London Welsh given the clubs’ respective journeys in recent seasons.
Professional rugby came to a shuddering halt for the Welsh Exiles in January 2017, with the professional operation liquidated and withdrawing from the RFU Championship midway through the season. Six-and-a-half years later, it was the Jersey Reds professional outfit that ceased trading and fell out of the rugby structure on the eve of the 2023/24 campaign. Both sides had lifted the Championship title before being unable to sustain their professional operations.
The two clubs have regrouped and kept the rugby flame alight through their separate amateur arms, with considerable success: no fewer than four promotions for London Welsh to reach level 5 by summer 2022, since when they have finished sixth and third in Regional 1 South Central; while JRFC, having already spent a season in the league pyramid and won their debut season at level 7, then went on to claim the Regional 2 SC title last March.
This season each club has won seven straight games, the majority by comfortable margins but with some close shaves. Welsh scraped past Camberley 35-32 in round 2, but have taken bonus points in every game, with an average scoreline of 50-18. Jersey beat Bracknell by 21-15, with the “dropped” bonus point leaving them one behind the Exiles, and were also run close by CS Stags (a four-point margin) and Wimbledon (seven points). The Island side have averaged 37 points a game, but been just as tough in defence as the league leaders (conceding two points fewer, to be precise).
The hosts for Saturday’s game – a 1.30 KO at CoinShares Park so the visitors can catch a flight home early evening – are able to welcome back some important players for the game, with Jerry Sexton lining up in the back row, while skipper Evan Whitson is on the bench and will make his first appearance of the season, alongside Max Harrington who sustained an injury in early October.
There are still some key absentees, particularly in the backs with the likes of Dan Barnes, Scott Van Breda and Mark Boarer unavailable due to injury, so George Willmott will continue as a makeshift centre while veteran fly-half Dan Hawkes will be looking to repeat the masterclass he delivered in the most recent home outing against Horsham.
The London Welsh coaching staff includes Tommy Bell, who spent the opening weeks of the 2014/15 season as a pro player with Jersey Reds before being snapped up by Leicester Tigers. Bell, who will be 32 on Monday, also played in France, Italy and Japan before retiring earlier this year and joining London Welsh, for whom he is listed as a travelling reserve this weekend.
This weekend’s visitors look set to bring one of the biggest contingents of supporters to have made the trip to Jersey in recent years, in fact possibly one of the largest-ever for a league game between two amateur sides, with Island hostelries reporting an uptick in beer sales from Thursday afternoon onwards.
JRFC (15-9, 1-8): Ethan Huish; Bevan Biggs, Nathan Rogers (capt), George Willmott, Tom Bulfin; Dan Hawkes, Liam Rhodes; Huw Owen, Jack Macfarlane, Tom Wilson, Cameron Keys, Max Ayling,Euan Spencer, Tom Tilstone, Jerry Sexton. Replacements: Joe Ridgway, Evan Whitson, Max Harrington.
Looking back through the records, Jersey and the Exiles met five times in the RFU Championship from 2014-16, with five Welsh victories and the Reds having to be content with losing bonus points from four of the five outings, including the 23-18 outcome of the last game between the sides in October 2016 at Old Deer Park. London Welsh won the Championship in 2012 and 2014, but were twice relegated from the Premiership at the first time of asking.
Jersey RFC’s Women are also in action this weekend, with a day-trip to Canterbury on Sunday for a NC1 SE(S) game that will kick off at 12 noon. The ladies will be back in action on home turf on Saturday November 23rd against Heathfield and Waldron (a 3.30pm KO under lights), with their male counterparts’ next home fixture being against Maidenhead the following Saturday (another 1.30pm start).
Professional rugby came to a shuddering halt for the Welsh Exiles in January 2017, with the professional operation liquidated and withdrawing from the RFU Championship midway through the season. Six-and-a-half years later, it was the Jersey Reds professional outfit that ceased trading and fell out of the rugby structure on the eve of the 2023/24 campaign. Both sides had lifted the Championship title before being unable to sustain their professional operations.
The two clubs have regrouped and kept the rugby flame alight through their separate amateur arms, with considerable success: no fewer than four promotions for London Welsh to reach level 5 by summer 2022, since when they have finished sixth and third in Regional 1 South Central; while JRFC, having already spent a season in the league pyramid and won their debut season at level 7, then went on to claim the Regional 2 SC title last March.
This season each club has won seven straight games, the majority by comfortable margins but with some close shaves. Welsh scraped past Camberley 35-32 in round 2, but have taken bonus points in every game, with an average scoreline of 50-18. Jersey beat Bracknell by 21-15, with the “dropped” bonus point leaving them one behind the Exiles, and were also run close by CS Stags (a four-point margin) and Wimbledon (seven points). The Island side have averaged 37 points a game, but been just as tough in defence as the league leaders (conceding two points fewer, to be precise).
The hosts for Saturday’s game – a 1.30 KO at CoinShares Park so the visitors can catch a flight home early evening – are able to welcome back some important players for the game, with Jerry Sexton lining up in the back row, while skipper Evan Whitson is on the bench and will make his first appearance of the season, alongside Max Harrington who sustained an injury in early October.
There are still some key absentees, particularly in the backs with the likes of Dan Barnes, Scott Van Breda and Mark Boarer unavailable due to injury, so George Willmott will continue as a makeshift centre while veteran fly-half Dan Hawkes will be looking to repeat the masterclass he delivered in the most recent home outing against Horsham.
The London Welsh coaching staff includes Tommy Bell, who spent the opening weeks of the 2014/15 season as a pro player with Jersey Reds before being snapped up by Leicester Tigers. Bell, who will be 32 on Monday, also played in France, Italy and Japan before retiring earlier this year and joining London Welsh, for whom he is listed as a travelling reserve this weekend.
This weekend’s visitors look set to bring one of the biggest contingents of supporters to have made the trip to Jersey in recent years, in fact possibly one of the largest-ever for a league game between two amateur sides, with Island hostelries reporting an uptick in beer sales from Thursday afternoon onwards.
JRFC (15-9, 1-8): Ethan Huish; Bevan Biggs, Nathan Rogers (capt), George Willmott, Tom Bulfin; Dan Hawkes, Liam Rhodes; Huw Owen, Jack Macfarlane, Tom Wilson, Cameron Keys, Max Ayling,Euan Spencer, Tom Tilstone, Jerry Sexton. Replacements: Joe Ridgway, Evan Whitson, Max Harrington.
Looking back through the records, Jersey and the Exiles met five times in the RFU Championship from 2014-16, with five Welsh victories and the Reds having to be content with losing bonus points from four of the five outings, including the 23-18 outcome of the last game between the sides in October 2016 at Old Deer Park. London Welsh won the Championship in 2012 and 2014, but were twice relegated from the Premiership at the first time of asking.
Jersey RFC’s Women are also in action this weekend, with a day-trip to Canterbury on Sunday for a NC1 SE(S) game that will kick off at 12 noon. The ladies will be back in action on home turf on Saturday November 23rd against Heathfield and Waldron (a 3.30pm KO under lights), with their male counterparts’ next home fixture being against Maidenhead the following Saturday (another 1.30pm start).
