Siam Cup: Jersey sweep Guernsey to win inter-island rugby titles
- Published
Jersey's men avenged two losses to Guernsey to win one of world rugby's oldest trophies
Jersey Rugby Club earned a clean sweep over their Guernsey rivals as their men and women won their respective Siam Cup matches at St Peter.
Jersey's men - who won the seventh tier Counties One Hampshire title this season - beat fourth-tier Guernsey Raiders 42-25 to reclaim the title.
Jersey's women ran out 31-5 victors over their Sarnian rivals.
Meanwhile Jersey's veteran men made it a clean sweep with a 31-24 win to take the Nash Cup.
Jersey's men avenged two losses to Guernsey last year as they ended their season having won every competitive game they have played in.
Jersey's side - who split from the Championship club Jersey Reds last summer - won all their matches as they cruised to the Hampshire One title earlier in the season.
Tim Corson's try early on put Jersey ahead before Mark Boarer got Jersey's second with an interception try from deep inside his own half.
But two tries in quick succession for Ciaran McGann and Callum Roberts saw the gap close to 20-15 at half time.
Owen Thomas' penalty cut the gap to two points shortly after the restart, but tries from Jack MacFarlane and Charlie Hubert gave Jersey what proved to be an unassailable 32-18 lead.
McGann got a second try before Boarer put the gloss on the game with his second to see Jersey home.
"You can see how much it means to everyone - we're so over the moon," Jersey head coach Miles Landick told BBC Radio Jersey.
"It means so much to the boys, you see lads in tears and you see how happy they are.
"We lost back-to-back Siams, one here and one in Guernsey quite convincingly, so to come here and win like we did today was pretty amazing."
Guernsey director of rugby Jordan Reynolds added: "It's another loss in a Siam, we've had a lot of those and I guess it makes the competition even more exciting in the future.
Jerseys' women were run closer by Guernsey than in 2022, but still retained their title
"We had our time last May, but we were outplayed today and we accept it if we're beaten by a better side on the day."
Jersey's women continued to dominate the fixture between the two islands, although the gap has closed after a 40-0 win for Jersey in 2022.
Four first half tries broke Guernsey's will as Jersey led 26-0 at the break before the islands shared an unconverted try apiece in the second half.
"I can't describe how much this means," said Jersey captain Lauren Lowe.
"To come out in front of our home crowd with all the support, and to win with a score like that is hard to describe.
"That first half was our first half of dreams, we came out really aggressive and executed it really well."