Ned Brown and Matt Thomas return to the Raiders starting line-up for the away game at Westcliff on Saturday, one which coach Jordan Reynolds views as ‘dangerous’ despite the opposition’s lowly placing in the National Three London and South East table.

Brown and Thomas both missed the good win over Bracknell, but their return is a big boost to the side who need to keep winning to push on for a top-five finish.

Meanwhile, young Callum Murdoch is set to play at hooker with Nico Ashplant, who did well in his first start last weekend, unavailable to travel, ‘I think it will be a pretty tough fixture for us,’ said Reynolds, who is quick to point out that Guernsey do not have a good record at Westcliff.

‘They are fighting to stay away from relegation and they have beaten us twice convincingly over there. They will be up a massive game. It makes them quite dangerous to us.’

The head coach is, of course, also an astute observer of weather patterns and reckons the rain won’t make his side’s job any easier.
‘It is going to be quite wet over there and there will be a fair bit of wind too.’

Although he won’t be naming his starting XV quite yet, it will be beefed up by the return of Brown and Thomas. ‘We are still without some of our front row and pretty much the same as last week with the current hooker problems. ‘With Brown and MattThomas back that will make a big difference. ‘Where they will play we will work out over the next day or so. But it gives is some good options.’

TEAM:
Craine, Murdoch, Batiste, Hillier, Merrien, Barnes, Chapman, M. Thomas, Nixon, O. Thomas, Walters, Campbell, Brown, Davison, Whitehead
Replacements:
Malagodi, Martin, Challinor