Hallowe’en became a bit of a horror show for Jersey RFC as defeat to a strong Esher outfit was followed by a nightmare journey back to the Island, with the majority of the squad likely to spend 40 hours on the journey home from Molesey Road.
The visitors began brightly in a contest that was the first between the clubs’ 1st XVs and looked more even than had been suggested by the league standings, with second hosting 12th in the table. A scything run by Freddie Earnshaw could have brought an opening try within three minutes, and eventually the period of Jersey dominance brought a close-range try by Euan Spencer, augmented by a well-struck Mark Boarer conversion.
The hosts were stung into action and some slick, pacy back-play brought a try for centre Harry Faulkner. But Jersey were soon on the attack again as hooker Jack Macfarlane rampaged through the heart of the Surrey side’s defence. An attempt to recycle quick ball was stymied, illegally, by Charlie Cadogan and the Esher wing was off to the bin, with his side swiftly punished further as Macfarlane steered a maul over the try-line.
The latter stages of the half saw Esher turn up the pressure, leaving the visitors scrambling to defend without getting on the wrong side of a strict referee. An attempted intercept by Rhys Thomas saw the Jersey wing shown yellow after 28 minutes for a deliberate knock-on and soon afterwards Josh Thorne claimed Esher’s second to tie the scores at 12-apiece.
There was still nothing in it as the clock ticked into the final two minutes of the half, but Jersey were down to 13 as John O’Sullivan paid the price for one too many penalties, and then 12 with Luke Bowles binned on 40 minutes and Thomas prevented from returning to the fray as the officials ruled he had not served his time in the bin. The three-man advantage made it straightforward for Esher to work their third try through wing Alex Gribbon, with the conversion marking the final act of the half.
The visitors had one of their best spells of the match after the resumption in spite of two players remaining in the bin, and wing Dylan Stocks went desperately close in the far corner as the Esher defence was pushed to the limit.
The half remained scoreless until replacement hooker Lewis Pickford crossed for Esher’s bonus-point try on 58 minutes. Sensing that the game was there to be killed off, the home side did just that as Cadogan crossed for a try after 66 minutes, soon after Boarer was the fourth Jersey player binned after another deliberate KO. Gribbon completed a hat-trick by crossing twice in the last three minutes to add the finishing touch to his side’s seventh successive win.
Although eventually outgunned, the Jersey squad had shown considerable flair in attack and some excellent commitment in defence for the majority of the game. Macfarlane, Bowles, Matt West and Kade Bird were among those prominent, with a solid showing from on-loan prop D’arcy Mulrooney on debut and some good impact from the bench from the likes of Evan Whitson, Jake Bates, Deepinder Dyal and Josh Krysztofiak.
Jersey RFC Men will host league leaders Oundle at CoinShares Park next Saturday, November 7th, with kick-off at 3.15pm. JRFC Women will have a weekend off following a tight encounter with Canterbury on home turf, the game finishing 15-15.
Scorers
Esher
Tries: Faulkner 20, Thorne 30, Gribbon 40, 77, 80, Pickford 58, Cadogan 66
Cons: Dalrymple x 3
Jersey RFC
Tries: Spencer 14, Macfarlane 24
Con: Boarer
Yellow cards
Cadogan (Esher) 22, Thomas (Jsy) 28, O’Sullivan (Jsy) 38, Bowles (Jsy) 40, Boarer (Jsy) 63
Att: 775
Referee: Tom Bird
