Guernsey head to Westcombe Park tomorrow for their final game of 2024 aiming to secure their ninth win from a dozen fixtures so far this campaign, which would guarantee them a top-five place in National Two East heading into the new year, and the coaches are taking a horses-for-courses approach in selecting their match-day squad. ‘We normally go for one prop, one hooker and one back-rower on the bench, but this week because of the high winds and the wet pitch, we have decided to go with three front-rowers on the bench with the aim to give Sam [Steventon] and Martinas [Dromantas] some rest in the middle of the game then get them back on to finish,’ said Guernsey director of rugby Jordan Reynolds, who welcomes back co-captain Lewis Hillier to the second row. ‘We have James Burger to cover the back row, too, so it meant Liam Welch missing out this week, which he is understandably disappointed about, but we have to make selections on theories of how we think the game will pan out and we will see whether it works out.
‘It would be an “old fashioned” game of rugby even without the wind because their pitch was very muddy last week and they’ve had more rain, so with the conditions as they are, whereas you usually have 10-12 scrums in a game, we think it could be anything up to 18 or 19 scrums on Saturday so it is a good idea to give a rest period to those guys and try to remain strong in the set-piece throughout.’ Tom Ceillam is back to start at hooker in place of Phi.
