Royal Artillery (Wilkes Cup) JEP 09/10

To catch a Prop

Royal Artillery Home ’Wilkes Cup’ Match Report (Courtesy Jersey Evening Post )

JERSEY RFC retained the Wilkes trophy by beating the Royal Artillery 32-10 at St Peter on Saturday but not before the RA had gone in at half-time 10-7 in front. And, for fully 40 minutes, the visitors were the better side. They were quickest to the loose, they scrummaged well and instead of kicking the ball were prepared to run at the Jerseydefence from every angle. However, in the second half the Jerseypack, a combination well-led by veteran Ian Henderson, showed its resilience. Time after time players one to eight proved their worth, which showed in the manner of this victory. There were two tries from mercurial back rower Brian Rennison, two from scrum-half Brendan O’Brien, whose influence on the game was massive, plus one from three-quarter Michael Le Bourgeois.

In between there was an intercept try by RA’s prop ’Toni’ Tonivala, who outstripped the Jersey defence while trying desperately to find someone to pass the ball to as he ran the length of the pitch, plus successful kicks at goal by ’Masi’ Masirewa, wearing the No 13 shirt. Jersey can be pleased by the outcome, but only in the last 20 minutes did they finally nail this game, as both the RA and Jerseycoaches said afterwards.

’We’ve brought over with us a development side,’ said RA coach John Smith. ’On Wednesday we had a full team but then 12 of them were called up to go to Afghanistan/st1 :country-region> duty on the Thursday morning. So it was very much a case of looking to the future. Most of these players hadn’t played together until the morning of the match. This was very much a young rugby team and learning. And the one thing about Jersey that impressed, throughout the game, was their cohesion. That, and their doing the basics well. In the last 20 minutes they over-ran us. But, before that, I felt we were always in the match.’

Jersey’s head coach, Ben Harvey, said: ’This was a tremendous work-out for our Jersey boys and the front row we put out against them played exceptionally well. But what also impressed me was the maturity shown by a very young back row in the pack; Leon Pearce, Brian Rennison and Tom Ellis. And behind them (scrum-half) Brendan O’Brien was exceptional. Like the RA, we have a development squad of players, lining up to play for the first team. So I was very pleased. This was worthwhile for us and I would hope, worthwhile for them.’

In truth, for the first 20 minutes the RA were the better side. They went 10-0 ahead with a penalty by Masirewa and then an intercept converted try by ’Toni’ Tonivala, a prop not normally used to running 70 metres of the pitch. However, just before the break Brian Rennison took the ball from the back of the scrum to touch down. Tom Turner, later named man of the match, converted. From the restart of the second half, Rennison scored from a long, accurate pass by O’Brien and Jersey went 15-10 ahead when Turner thumped over a penalty. Full-back Michael Le Bourgeois was the next to score, collecting the ball in space from centre Ashley Maggs, and, against a team visibly wilting, scrum-half Brendan O’Brien gleefully accepted the ball from a scrum against the head to dart over, with no-one in his way to stop him. His second try wasn’t so easy – he had to sidestep twice on the right before darting through – but this try, plus Turner’s conversion, earned the Wilkes’ Trophy for Jersey for a fourth consecutive time.

Jersey RFC XV: Marcus Nobes, Nathan Kemp, Myles Landick, Ian Henderson (capt), Hugo Taylor, Tom Ellis, Ashley Elphinston (Leon Pearce), Brian Rennison, Brendan O’Brien, Tom Taylor, Killian Dorey, Ashley Maggs, Aaron Young (Mark White), Mark Le Mottée (Henry Frost), Micheal Le Bourgeois.

RA: Toni Tonivala, Andrew Wright, Bruno Pirouet, Michael Lord, Johnny Eames, Roko Rokotabuna, Paulo Makavu, Shi Sauliga, Bill Tagicakibau, To Tovogone, Son Speight, Tagi Tagicakibau, Masi Masirewa, Ben Nomarva, Dex Towake.