Match Preview

St Jacques Vikings are back at home this Saturday in a match being dubbed ‘The Battle of the Saints’ as they welcome St Francis RFC to the KGV.

Ray Smarts’ side have had the perfect start to the season, winning all 8 of their Sussex Division Two fixtures so far and proudly sit top of the league. Most recently they defeated second place Midhurst 34-12, who are a vastly improved team this season with various new players amongst their ranks, to extend their lead in the league table to 8 points.

This visitors this week are a team the Vikings are familiar with, and thus far have never lost to. The two sides met back in September in Crawley, and the Vikings came away with 8-31 victory in horrid weather conditions on that occasion.

St Francis have had some good results of late and are now in the top four heading into this weekend, and will most definitely be keen to cause an upset against the Vikings and this is something Ray Smart has stressed to his players, they will not be taking the opposition lightly!

In only their second game at home this season this Vikings will be looking to produce an improved performance than they managed against Shoreham last month. They were know-where near their best on that occasion, and Ray Smart will be hoping for a thorough performance this week from his squad.

Missing out for the Vikings this week, centre Connor Sullivan who has had a problematic ankle for a while is rested ahead of the visit of second placed Midhurst to the KGV next weekend. He has trained okay all week, but with a run of 4 games at home back-to-back the Vikings coaches feel it is best to manage the game-time of the talented back.

Blair Campbell the former Guernsey Raiders captain has been recovering from injury since last season, but has been training with the Vikings for a couple of weeks now. He is going to be a massive boost to the squad and particularly to the many young backs in the Vikings squad. He is not selected this week, but you can likely expect to see him play some part next weekend.

Prop Nico Ashplant is also out this week as he is still following return to play protocols following a concussion injury suffered against Shoreham. It is hoped he will return next week however which will be another boost for the challenge of Midhurst at home.

Playing this week, Barney Paul and skipper Leon Gardner continue their partnership in the front-row, and this week are joined by Alan Myers from the off with James Mroch on the bench. Myers and Mroch both missed out against Midhurst through unavailability and injury but make their returns this week.

Second-row Mitch Smith has played nearly every minute so far this season, therefore he is handed a deserved rest and starts on the bench this weekend. He will no doubt still have a significant role to play this weekend from the bench. His brother Jacob starts in is usual position and he joins Brad Webb in the engine room. In the back-row big no 8 James Regnard returns, which means Mark Johnson will move to the blind-side flank with the continually improving young Chris Croft on the open-side this week.

In the backs scrum-half Lucas Barker continues his half-back partnership with Matt Lomas, whilst a new centre pairing will run out this week. Leon Collenette joins up with Cashel Cahill whilst Tom Teasdale continues at fullback. On the Wings Guernsey Raider Daley Aremu starts for the Vikings after having an injury ravaged campaign so far, which has restricted him to only one appearance for the Raiders so far this season. He is joined by the Vikings top try scorer this season Joe Le Roux on the opposite wing.

On the bench Alex Lock and Tom Creed will provide the forward reinforcements along with Mroch and Smith. Cameron Le Prevost, Luke Rigby and Alex Burt provide the backs cover, with Burt in line to make his debut for Vikings.

Kick-off is 1.30pm at the KGV, with the bar open from 11.00am. We hope our supporters can make it down to support, it was great to have so many on the touchline and on the balcony three weeks ago, it really does lift the team.