Yes, it will be a first,’ he said, after confirming that Kern Yates, out of the game through injury since midway through the first game of the season, will be on the bench.
‘He’s been given the all-clear so he’ll have at least a half.’ After last week’s first win in four matches, Jersey will also be relishing the thought of a game against a team they’ve beaten before but who are currently riding high in third place in London South, Division II.
‘We didn’t play them last season but we’re under no illusions.
Like London Irish, who beat us earlier in the year, they won promotion from the division below us.
‘But as we’ve found with every team we’ve played against, you can’t take anything for granted; so far every team we’ve played has been very different from the one we played last year!’ Because of that Burton said: ‘What we’ve got to do is to go out there and play our own game without worrying about theirs.’ This week he has also been helped in training by two other highly-rated professionals.
While former Wales international Steve Williams took the forwards, Ben Harvey took the backs.
‘Ben is so highly rated that Andy Robinson asked him to coach the England backs, 15 months ago, before the RFU asked Brian Ashton instead.
He’s given us more lines of running and also helped with our positional play.
We’ll start with the same 15 who started last week, but all four replacements will eventually be used.
Even at our level, we have to think about it being a 19-man game.
It should be an excellent match – depending on the weather – I’m looking forward to it.’ Jersey RFC: Marcus Nobes, Nathan Kemp, Josh Chamier, Roger Quirk, Ian Henderson, Jon Allo, Richie Griffiths, Graham Bell, Dave Miles, Darren Toudic, Ryan Morgan, Steve O’Brien, Mark White, Latu Maka’afi, Mark Le Mottée.
Replacements (from): Kern Yates; Peter O’Connor, Sam Cummins, Jason Hosty.
