Jersey Reds' resilience praised despite 21-17 Cornish Pirates loss

Jersey Reds have lost their last two Championship matches

Jersey Reds boss Harvey Biljon has hailed his side's resilience despite their 21-17 loss at Cornish Pirates.

The defeat, a week after going down to title contenders Ealing, leaves the islanders fourth in the Championship, eight points behind leaders Doncaster.

"I'm immensely proud of the group," Biljon told BBC Radio Jersey.

"What you won't see is the resilience they've had to show through the Covid disruption, the injuries throughout this week and everything else."

He added: "The way that team turned around and continued to play for 80 minutes was something else."

Macauley Cook and Dan Barnes went over for Jersey inside the opening eight minutes after some Pirates mistakes before Tom Channon pulled a try back midway through the first half.

The hosts had Matt Bolwell sin-binned seven minutes from half-time, but Jersey could only score a Scott van Breda penalty with the extra man as they led 17-7 at the break.

But a second try for Channon - his 12th of the season - 10 minutes after the restart and a Tom Kessell score 13 minutes from the end sealed a memorable victory for the Pirates which puts them second with games in hand on Doncaster.

"It was a hell of a game of rugby played in the right spirit," Biljon added.

"You've got to give the Pirates credit for getting themselves back into the game, there's no doubt about that.

"I think there's some key moments where we'll learn and have to improve and get better.

"There were a couple of chances for us, if you look at that spell before half-time I think we probably deserved a bit more than just three points.

"But some big moments in that game that we'll definitely take something away from and learn from, but on the whole a pretty good game."