Siam Cup 2007Jersey Rugby Club 8 - 17 Guernsey Rugby Club | | Guernsey with the Siam Cup |
It didn't start well for the home side, who were playing in front of almost 5000 fans, when scrum-half Dave Miles, playing in his last game, went off injured. After 8 minutes, Jersey's 3rd choice penalty taker Mark White opened the scoring with a penalty. Guernsey then had to defend their lines for much of the half, but towards the end of the first period, they came more into it. The referee played an amazing 13 minutes of stoppage time, and it was in the 53rd minute that Guernsey dramatically took the lead. And they deserved it after putting the home side under great pressure, and with Jersey switching off, Jordan Reynalds touched down, and New Zealander Nick Barton converted.  | | Action from the 2007 Siam Cup |
The whistle went straight afterwards, with Guernsey leading 7-3. After a somewhat dour first half, it really livened up after what was a very short break. Just moments after Nathan Kemp had to go off injured eleven minutes into the second half, Guernsey went further ahead with Darren Jones touching down through a melee of players. Another Barton conversion made it 14-3 to Guernsey. Just seven minutes later, Jersey were back in it. Graham Bell came over the blind side and touched down over the try-line. Mark White's conversion hit the post, and Jersey's luck took a further dip when a superb penalty from Nick Barton made it 17-8 just three minutes later.  | | Jersey's Latu |
With ten minutes left, Jason Hosty looked to have scored a try, but he was correctly adjudged not to have grounded the ball. Despite late Jersey pressure, the grim determination and grit of the Guernsey side saw them deservedly hold out to the end. It was surely one of the best ever performances from a Guernsey side. Guernsey captain Andy Bailey said that believing in themselves was a huge help to his side; "We always believe in ourselves...100% we believed from the minute we arrived in Jersey. No one else probably believed in us but we all believed in each other and it means so much to the side. "It wasn't a fluke - we deserved that. We beat the best team that Jersey's ever produced." Jersey's Roger Quirk agreed that Guernsey "were deserved winners. We had a lot of possession but we couldn't make the most of it." Jersey's skipper Steve O'Brien explained that although Jersey play in a RFU league above Guernsey, the result proves that the Siam will never be easy for the Jersey team: "The Siam Cup's always going to be competitive. We were talking last year after we won over there that it might become a non-existent cup competition just because there'd be such a gap - but there is no gap in cup competitions, that's a fact." Other results from the Siam Festival of Rugby: | | Jersey after their Siam defeat |
2nd XV
Jersey 53 - 3 Guernsey Veterans
Jersey 3 - 42 Guernsey Under 18
Jersey 77 - 0 Guernsey Under 16
Jersey 22 - 10 Guernsey Under 15
Jersey 41 - 8 Guernsey Under 14
Jersey 61 - 0 Guernsey Under 12
Jersey 70 - 0 Guernsey Under 11
Jersey 55 - 0 Guernsey Under 10
Jerseu 60 - 0 Guernsey Under 9
Jersey 35 - 0 Guernsey Under 8
Jersey 20 - 0 Guernsey Under 7
Jersey 25 - 15 Guernsey | 
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