However, Saturday’s display was not that of a side now fourth from bottom of London South Division II.
For the last 20 minutes of the first half and for much of the second Jersey were dominant, although poor decision making ten yards short of the Old Colfeians’ line meant that they couldn’t turn possession into points.
‘Wrong options cost us this game,’ said the club’s director of rugby, Dai Burton.
‘There were too many individual errors.
Perhaps we should have relaxed a little bit more.’ And Jersey were over-anxious whenever there was the opportunity to cross the line.
Too often a player would take on virtually all of the opposition XV, when a simple pass would have more easily broken their last line of defence.
However, despite their inability to convert possession into points, Jersey can take heart from this performance.
They were as good as Old Colfeians, now second in the league, and with a minute remaining ‘scored’ a push over try which was disallowed with the referee unsighted.
‘We deserved to win today,’ said captain Steve O’Brien afterwards.
‘The referee did us no favours, but I was very proud of the lads’ performance’.
The first score went to Jersey when Sam Cummins kicked a penalty after 20 minutes.
However, a momentary lapse of concentration immediately afterwards saw Old Colfeians score in the left-hand corner when winger Rob Seidu took a decent pass following good hands, from right to left, in the threes.
From a difficult angle Peter Burton converted.
After that, it was all Jersey pressure, as the home side’s manager, Dave Hodgkiss was happy to concede: ‘Jersey were the equal of any team we’ve played this year but the one thing we haven’t done this season is leak tries.
Defensively, we’ve been very good.’ In the second half Jersey again took the game to the opposition but, with 20 minutes remaining, it was obvious that Old Colfeians were happy to sit on a seven-point lead following a penalty of their own, in the 45th minute.
Their final penalty, for offside, with three minutes remaining, meant that Jersey were two scores behind with very little time left to play but O’Brien was right to praise his team’s performance.
If they had scored even one try, the floodgates could well have opened.
And even though next week they play unbeaten league leaders Sutton and Epsom, who beat Lewes 62-5 on Saturday, they have nothing to fear.
On the evidence of this game Jersey are a good side who’ve ‘forgotten’ the simplest lesson in any game of sport; the art of turning possession into points.
Jersey could, and should, have won away from home on Saturday.
Collins Stewart squad: Marcus Nobes (Gareth Davies), Josh Chamier, Jim Brimelow (Peter O’Connor), Ian Henderson (Marc Peters), Roger Quirk, Latu Maka’afi, Richie Griffiths, Graham Bell, Dave Miles, Sam Cummins, Ryan Morgan, Steve O’Brien, Mark White, Anthony Hurford (Jim Milner), Gareth Jeffreys.
Peter O’Connor, Gareth Davies, Marc Peters.
