Jersey RFC boss Ben Harvey seeks 'fortress' mentality

Jersey director of rugby Ben Harvey says his team need to turn St Peter into "a fortress" if they are to achieve their goals this season.

Harvey's team suffered a 23-18 home defeat at the hands of Plymouth Albion on Saturday.

"We need to make this place a fortress and need to get the crowd excited," he told BBC Radio Jersey.

"It's not the crowd getting us excited, that's not the way it works. We need to throw ourselves in a little bit more."

Jersey have beaten Bedford and Ayr at home this season and pushed pre-season Championship favourites Bristol close as well, but Harvey said that defensive standards were not high enough.

"We slipped off far too many first-up tackles - we missed probably 20 tackles and you can't do that at this level," he said.

"We let ourselves down and the boys are all disappointed, as are the coaching staff, but we win together and we lose together. We're a good side and we've proved that but we need to remember how we do things well.

"I don't think we attacked particularly well. You can't just pass the ball once and then run into the opposition, you become very narrow and it becomes very easy to defend against.

"There's no shortage of hard work, on and off the field, at this club and we'll get better."