Loughborough Students (H) Nat 2 Play-Off 28-05-11

Jersey Loughborough Students: National Two Promotion Play-Off: May 28th 2011: By Tom Innes
Jersey 30 - 5 Loughborough Students 
    Overjoyed and soaked in champagne and cold water, Jersey's Head Coach Ben Harvey praised his team for playing to their strengths in overcoming Loughborough and seizing promotion. "We played to our strengths and squeezed the life out of them," he said. "I was delighted by the players' attitude today, they certainly didn't need to be geed up for this game. "We controlled the match from the start and by the time they got on the board it was too late." Harvey praised the efforts of the visiting Loughborough squad, who he described as well-drilled and a credit to themselves and their coaching team. But he was also focusing on some full-throttle celebration before starting preparations for his team's first-ever season in National One.
     After kicking off in front of a boisterous home crowd, the first serious contact of the match saw Jersey earn a penalty, coolly slotted by Mike Le Bourgeois with only 99 seconds on the clock. Jersey's pack didn't wait to impose themselves on their Loughborough counterparts and the first scrum, which followed a mis-hit restart, saw another penalty awarded and converted with aplomb from halfway by Le Bourgeois. Loughborough rallied and kicked several penalties to the corner rather than go for goal into the stiff wind. But two of the resulting lineouts were lost, and Jersey were also forcing key turnovers to remain in the ascendency. Just before the half-hour mark another driven scrum saw Nick Trower pick up and flip the ball scrum half Dave McCormack, who tore into the Loughborough half and released James Copsey with a perfectly-timed pass. The winger was already beyond his opposite number, and a quicksilver dummy took him past full back Russell Weir and scorching over the line. Le Bourgeois missed a drop-kicked conversion after the ball was blown off the tee by the wind. Though dominating the closing stages of the half, the home team failed to score again, and the Students almost managed a try of their own when Russell Weir exploited an overlap but was called back for a forward pass.
     Nervous at half-time about turning into the wind with a possibly inadequate lead, the Jersey crowd were cheered by the pivotal moment of the match in the opening minute of the second half. Donovan Sanders made the early yards and then a rampaging pack surged over the line resulting in a try for Nathan Hannay. Brimming with confidence and sensing the chance to kill the game off, Jersey attacked again soon afterwards, and Hannay registered a second try. The giant second row touched down in the corner after bursting from a maul in a direction not anticipated by the Students' defence. Jersey's determination was epitomised by Graham Bell struggling to his feet during treatment to stem a sortie by the visitors, and Jersey's relentless pick-and-go tactics were the perfect option playing into the wind.
     Loughborough heads didn't drop and they were left with a man advantage just after the hour when Jersey's Dave Felton saw yellow for killing the ball. Within seconds the visitors attacked and George Drake's long pass created an easy run-in for Ed Rolston. Some extended injury breaks and numerous substitutions saw the game become disjointed in the closing stages, but the home crowd never lowered the volume levels and David Doherty sealed the win with the final move of the game as he burst clear to score from Trower's pass.
     Loughborough's Dave Morris said he was "gutted" that a special group of players, some of them in their final game, had been denied promotion. "There's lots of emotion, and I'd like to thank my boys," he said. "Fair play to Jersey, they're a super club heading in the right direction; they outpowered us and deserved their win."

Scorers & Times
Jersey
Tries: Copsey 25, Hannay, 42, 48, Doherty 81
Conversions: Le Bourgeois 42, 81
Penalties: Le Bourgeois 1, 3

Loughborough Students
Try: Rolston 65

Star man: Nathan Hannay (Jersey)
Attendance: 3,100
Referee: Darren Gamage
Half-time scoreline: Jersey 11 Loughborough Students 0

STAT BOX (Jersey stats first)
Penalties conceded: 15-11
Lineouts won: 5-7
Lineouts lost: 0-2
Scrums won: 10-11
Scrums lost: 0-4
Sin bin: 1-0

Jersey: Le Bourgeois 7, Copsey 8, Henderson 7, Sanders 8, Doherty 7, Hawkes 8, McCormack 7 (O'Brien 78 N/A), Maddocks 7 (Kenwright 40, 7), Felton 7, Brennan 8 (Holland 80 N/A), Rodgers (capt) 8, Hannay 9 (Clyde-Smith T 80 N/A), Elphinston 7, Bell 7 (Clyde-Smith C 59, 6), Trower, 8.

Loughborough Students: Weir 6, Wilson 8 (Lamming 78 N/A), Kinloch 6, Munro 7, Rolston 7, Keville 6 (Drake 48, 7), Macmanus 6 (Holland 61, 6), Parilli-Ocampo 6 (Steadman 48, 6), Hobbs 6, Bower 6 (Booley 80 N/A), Warden (capt) 7, Taylor 6, Silcock 7, Waddingham 6, MacFarlane, 7.