If there’s a more eagerly-awaited fixture in the fifth tier of the English game this season, let’s see it!
The top two in Regional 1 South Central will go head-to-head at Old Deer Park on a day when the league title could be decided.
London Welsh could have one-and-a-half hands on the trophy – and the lone promotion place to level four – should they secure a win over Jersey, while the visitors know that only a win will keep them in the contest.
While the Exiles have a perfect record thus far in 2024/25, with 17 straight bonus point wins, the Islanders have lost twice so far, leaving them eight points adrift of the league leaders.
One of the defeats was on home turf to the Welsh visitors in November, when a slow start left Jersey with too much to do, eventually losing 36-28.
The narrow margin was one of just three this season for the Exiles, who wobbled on two other occasions on their travels when winning 35-32 at Camberley early in the season and 29-26 in their most recent game at Brighton. In their remaining 14 games the men from Old Deer Park have won by at least 25 points.
Head of Rugby Myles Landick’s selection for the game at Old Deer Park brings an interesting contrast between backs and forwards. Just two of the starting backs remain in the starting XV – Bevan Biggs at wing and Tom Bulfin (switching from wing to centre). Scott Van Breda will line up at fly-half, while a stand-out selection in midfield is the JRFC player-coach – former Jersey Reds, Wasps and Leicester Tigers man Guy Thompson. Wing Lance Armstrong is the most recent of several graduates from JRFC’s mini and junior section.
Meanwhile the starting pack sees just a single change from the November game, with skipper Evan Whitson coming into the back row while Euan Spencer moves forward to the second row in place of Max Ayling.
JRFC (15-9, 1-8): Mark Boarer; Bevan Biggs, Tom Bulfin, Guy Thompson, Lance Armstrong; Scott Van Breda, Max Harrington; Huw Owen, Jack Macfarlane, Tom Wilson, Euan Spencer, Cameron Keys, Tom Tilstone, Evan Whitson (capt), Jerry Sexton. Replacements: Joe Ridgway, Evan Whitson, George Willmott, Nathan Rogers.
The two clubs’ respective journeys in recent seasons have been remarkably similar.
Professional rugby came to a shuddering halt for the Welsh Exiles in January 2017, with the club’s professional operation liquidated and withdrawing from the RFU Championship midway through the season. Six-and-a-half years later, it was the Jersey Reds pro 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. There were 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; meanwhile JRFC spent their first season in the league pyramid winning their debut season at level 7, and then went on to claim the Regional 2 SC title last March.
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 won’t be in action this weekend, but will face Canterbury on home turf at CoinShares Park on Sunday February 23rd in a NC1 SE(S) game that will kick off at 12 noon. The following weekend the men will face Camberley at home, with kick-off confirmed half an hour earlier than originally scheduled: 2.30pm.
The top two in Regional 1 South Central will go head-to-head at Old Deer Park on a day when the league title could be decided.
London Welsh could have one-and-a-half hands on the trophy – and the lone promotion place to level four – should they secure a win over Jersey, while the visitors know that only a win will keep them in the contest.
While the Exiles have a perfect record thus far in 2024/25, with 17 straight bonus point wins, the Islanders have lost twice so far, leaving them eight points adrift of the league leaders.
One of the defeats was on home turf to the Welsh visitors in November, when a slow start left Jersey with too much to do, eventually losing 36-28.
The narrow margin was one of just three this season for the Exiles, who wobbled on two other occasions on their travels when winning 35-32 at Camberley early in the season and 29-26 in their most recent game at Brighton. In their remaining 14 games the men from Old Deer Park have won by at least 25 points.
Head of Rugby Myles Landick’s selection for the game at Old Deer Park brings an interesting contrast between backs and forwards. Just two of the starting backs remain in the starting XV – Bevan Biggs at wing and Tom Bulfin (switching from wing to centre). Scott Van Breda will line up at fly-half, while a stand-out selection in midfield is the JRFC player-coach – former Jersey Reds, Wasps and Leicester Tigers man Guy Thompson. Wing Lance Armstrong is the most recent of several graduates from JRFC’s mini and junior section.
Meanwhile the starting pack sees just a single change from the November game, with skipper Evan Whitson coming into the back row while Euan Spencer moves forward to the second row in place of Max Ayling.
JRFC (15-9, 1-8): Mark Boarer; Bevan Biggs, Tom Bulfin, Guy Thompson, Lance Armstrong; Scott Van Breda, Max Harrington; Huw Owen, Jack Macfarlane, Tom Wilson, Euan Spencer, Cameron Keys, Tom Tilstone, Evan Whitson (capt), Jerry Sexton. Replacements: Joe Ridgway, Evan Whitson, George Willmott, Nathan Rogers.
The two clubs’ respective journeys in recent seasons have been remarkably similar.
Professional rugby came to a shuddering halt for the Welsh Exiles in January 2017, with the club’s professional operation liquidated and withdrawing from the RFU Championship midway through the season. Six-and-a-half years later, it was the Jersey Reds pro 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. There were 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; meanwhile JRFC spent their first season in the league pyramid winning their debut season at level 7, and then went on to claim the Regional 2 SC title last March.
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 won’t be in action this weekend, but will face Canterbury on home turf at CoinShares Park on Sunday February 23rd in a NC1 SE(S) game that will kick off at 12 noon. The following weekend the men will face Camberley at home, with kick-off confirmed half an hour earlier than originally scheduled: 2.30pm.
