Even the physio's injured!

INJURY-CURSED Guernsey slipped to second from bottom of the National Three London & SE table with the loss at Westcliff who leapfrog Jordan Reynolds’ men in the table.

With virtually an entire XV missing, the visitors were forced into giving debuts to three players in the form of second XV regulars Cally Murdoch and Dale Martiin, plus Taylor Temperton another New Zealander who has recently arrived unannounced to the club, in the island.

‘He’s working at the Wicked Wolf. We signed him up a while back and he helped us out,’ said Jordan who has revealed that for the first time he has been coaching with the club, they were almost unable to field a side.

‘We’ve just got so many injuries and there were unavailabilities too.

‘Even our physio (John) is now injured. He fell off his bike.

‘It’s a curse on the club at the moment.’

But initially things started promisingly for the Guernsey side who had only one replacement at Gables West.

With Cameron Craine and Sam Whitehead scoring tries and the latter also converting the extras, they led 14-0 in the first half, but gradually they were pegged back and there was growing concern among the visiting bench as Westcliff, who had won only once previously this season, levelled the match at 17-17.

Guernsey then faded and conceded another 17 points without adding to their own total.

The coach was obviously disappointed but phlegmatic over the result given the result which leaves us struggling near the foot of the table.

Jordan won’t entertain the idea of a relegation fight.

‘We are not too down on ourselves - we are not panicking,’ he said.

‘There is no need for it.

‘We were in a similar position this time last year but went on a great run to finish fifth. We can do it again.

‘We started extremely well, but it was a great eye-opener for the new lads playing at this level and we ran out of steam. But for the first 20 we played really well.’

Next up for our lads is a home game next Saturday against London Irish Wild Geese who, rather ominously, have moved up to third in the table.

Click here for photos from the match.