NATIONAL Division I side Stourbridge RFC lost 26-15 at St Peter on Saturday in a warm-up to the opening National II side as Jersey prepare to play Shelford, away, next Saturday. And make no bones about it, this was class rugby, worthy of Divisional I status. ‘Jersey are a class act, worthy of playing in a decent division, although time will tell on the fitness of the bigger boys,’ ‘Stour’s’ director of rugby Neil Mitchell said afterwards. ‘But they’ve got some punchy centres, and I wasn’t put out by this defeat. This was really a combination of my 1st and 2nd teams. I was disappointed to lose but there were flashes from both teams that showed the promise they have. Ben (Harvey) knows what he’s doing. Jersey should have nothing to fear about in the league they’re going into.’

From Harvey’s point of view, a win was always going to be satisfactory – but he was critical of the Island side’s inability to turn chances into points. I think if we had been more clinical we could have scored more tries,’ he said. ‘Our defence was really good; we turned some of their ball over really well; and I recognise that some of our players are exceptionally good. From the two games we’ve played, I would suggest that the teams we now have to play against will see us as a bit more robust than many people expect. Stourbridge are a good team with good players. But this win stands us in good stead for the season ahead.’

In an entertaining game and in front of an excellent crowd, Jersey won this game through dogged defence and opportunistic moments: the first in the 17th minute when Donovan Sanders, crab-like, paved his way through a static Stourbridge side before freeing Ashley Maggs, who powered through to score. Before then Luke Cozens had hit a peach of a penalty to make it 3-0, but with Dan Hawkes’ conversion to come, Jersey were playing the more fluent rugby and deserved their 7-3 lead. They extended that, too, when following a period of sustained pack pressure, captain Graham Bell took a short free kick, flicked the ball to Henno Ventner who, in turn found Sanders to roar through from distance to score a converted try in the 29th minute.

Jersey were in the ascendancy both in the pack and in the threes, although in the first 20 minutes of the second half they were severely tested, particularly in the forwards, at one stage being camped on their own try line for what seemed to be an interminable age. However, despite Stourbridge’s continual urgency, they kept  spilling the ball - so when, in only the first minute of the second half, Hawkes intercepted to run 40m before passing to Andrew Henderson, to make it 21-3 after the conversion, Jersey seemed to have a comfort zone of their own. But not a bit of it. Stourbridge came again and, in the scrum and rolling loose, tried to batter down the Jersey defences. The next try was made by full-back Chris Surman, whose run across the field on the left was matched by a catch and score to winger Tom Jarvis.

And, although Jersey increased their lead, again thanks to an intercept and pass by Hawkes, this time to Mike Le Bourgeois, who kicked through to make it 26-8 with 20 minutes remaining, Stourbridge were to have the final say in a game which, in fairness, showed the attractive nature of rugby: both teams running the ball from every angle and wanting to score tries rather than eke out a few miserly points from penalties. In the 63rd minute Stourbridge full-back Chris Surman again passed inside, this time to replacement Nathan Roy-Smith who touched down; but by then the game was already as good as over.

Jersey , at ‘Fortress St Peter’ haven’t lost now, in any meaningful game, for over a year. They may be set for the highest-ever standard of league rugby this season, but, on this evidence, they are capable of rising even further - with one proviso: ‘your forwards are big but they’re carrying too much weight’, Mitchell said. ‘In my opinion, some of them need to go on a fitness campaign . . .