Jordan Reynolds’men picked up no serious injuries with Siam Day looming and with Shelford somewhat unexpectedly losing at home raiders finished the season in sixth place - a marvellous effort.

Reynolds was pleased with his side’s never-say-die attitude after they had trailed 22-14 at the interval.

‘The first half was disappointing but the best thing is we did not lose heart and we scored two tries in that half, which was important,’ he said.

‘We could have shut up shop at half-time, but we came out of the blocks well in the second half and we were by far the better side.

‘I thought Glen Walters had an absolute stormer, BC was excellent and Crainey worked really hard, but it was a shame Eamon had to come off injured.’

Raiders, sadly, are saying farewell to five players at the end of the season, three to retirement and two more due to visa lapses.

But next season it will seem particularly odd to watch a Raiders outfit minus Blair Campbell, our long-time inspirational skipper who is calling it a day.

Campbell’s class shone before the first whistle had even been blown as he gave the departing Glen Walters the honour of leading the side out and Guernsey began brightly, only to fall foul of some horrid luck in the second minute when the ball struck a boot during their opening attack and fell to London Irish winger Oliver Turner who galloped from inside his own 22 to the Guernsey try line without being touched and then converted his own try.

Within 10min., though, Raiders had drawn level from an inventive play with fly half Owen Thomas kicking across field into the right-hand corner where both Anthony Armstrong and Luke Sayer were waiting to contest the high ball.

It was Sayer who came down with it and then wriggled out of a tackle to score and Thomas kicked a brilliant conversion from the touchline using the fresh wind to his advantage.

Parity did not last long, though, as powerful Irish centre Sebastian Rodwell burst through the Raiders defensive line and handed off the last defender to put his side 12-7 ahead.

Two tries in as many minutes just after the half-hour mark followed for the visitors, who despite standing out clearly in their pristine white shirts were proving very difficult to tackle for the home side.

Winger George Owen scored the first with an intercept try from the halfway line while missed tackles cost Guernsey dearly moments later as hooker Matthew Cornish made it 22-7.

However, Armstrong’s individual kick-and-chase try just before the break, again converted by Thomas, buoyed the hosts going into the interval.

Five minutes into the second period, Irish stole a line-out 5m from the Guernsey line and, after a couple of phases, flanker Scott Moore stretched his long right arm out to plant the ball down underneath the posts and give Raiders a mountain to climb.

But, sparked by Campbell’s burst which led to Martin’s try, the home side got a second wind and a Thomas penalty pulled them back to within one score with 20min. remaining.

Raiders had all the momentum and they quickly capitalised as Layton Batiste barged his way over from close range after Adam Nixon’s sniping run was halted just inches short of the line.

But the decisive score came just moments later as Irish managed to strip the ball in the tackle after Guernsey had received the restart and Brent Jones thundered up the middle before scrum-half Thomas Barker scampered to the line.

Guernsey still had a great opportunity to push for a draw after Moore was sent to the bin for not retreating 10m as Nixon took a quick tap penalty inside the Irish 22, but to the disbelief of everyone, including himself, Owen Thomas kicked the resultant penalty dead rather than into touch and the chance had gone.

One of those things...Owen has been outstanding for us this debut season.

TEAMS

Guernsey Raiders: Craine, Ceillam, Batiste, Hillier, Merrien, Martin, Chapman, M. Thomas, Nixon, O. Thomas, Campbell, Brown, Walters, Armstrong, Sayer. Replacements: Ashplant, Malagodi, Whitehead.

London Irish Wild Geese: Cronin, Cornish, Fraher, M. Jones, B. Jones, Moore, Livett, Barker, Dunne, Rodwell, Kitching, Owen, Turner, Gott. Replacements: Connor, Browne, Cunningham.