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Injuries not to blame for Sheppey Rugby Club's defeat, says Peter Olliver

Peter Olliver
Peter Olliver

Sheppey coach Peter Olliver refused to blame a string of second-half injuries for his side’s 51-14 Kent 1 hammering at Ashford on Saturday.

Sheppey lost five players to injury after the break – Martin Robinson, Rob Allum, Dean Eley, Sean Morgan and Tom Varker – and Olliver’s side had to play the last 15 minutes with 14 men after using up all of their substitutes.

But Olliver (pictured) admitted: "It was one of those days when everything seemed to go wrong but, to be honest, we would still have lost even if we didn’t have all the injuries because Ashford are a good, young side.

"I’m tipping them to win the league this season. They have pace all through the team and ran riot when we were down to 14 players."

Sheppey were always chasing the game after conceding what Olliver described as "two sloppy tries" in the opening 15 minutes but he drew encouragement from the improved performance of his pack, who made up for their "lazy" display against Sittingbourne the week before.

Olliver added: "We were much better up front on Saturday. I couldn’t fault the commitment of the players all the way through the team but Ashford were just too good."

With two defeats in their opening three matches, the Sheppey coach acknowledged the importance of getting back to winning ways in Saturday’s home game against a Whitstable side who have lost their three opening matches after being relegated from London 3 South East last season.

Olliver is hoping that fly-half Robinson will have recovered from the chest injury he suffered last weekend.

Second row Varker should also be fit which, with Chris Champ still away on holiday, is good news, especially as Morgan could be out for up to three months after dislocating his shoulder against Ashford.

Dean Eley is also out for two weeks after a clash of heads with Rob Allum but scrum-half Allum should be fit to face Whitstable.

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