The Reds suffered an agonising late defeat and had only a solitary bonus point to bring back from Goldington Road after an exciting match. Just as they had done so in the Boxing Day thriller in 2016, the home side scored a try with the last play of the match to level the scores, and then converted to seal the win. Brendan Cope took three points after some early pressure from the visitors, who then fell behind as Blues’ skipper Will Hooley flighted a cross-kick that was caught by Ryan Hutler, who touched down. The Reds enjoyed a purple patch of 15 points in seven minutes. Alex Morgan took a pass from Will Homer after a lineout and powered through, Jake Upfield finished a rolling maul and Cope added a conversion and a penalty. The only downside was an injury to Janco Venter which caused the Namibian to be replaced by Upfield. The Reds had the benefit of both the slope and a strong wind and needed to maintain an advantage up to the break, but in the end it was a lead of just a single point as Blues added two tries and a conversion in the closing stages of the half. Greg Dyer scored the visitors’ third try soon after the break following a quick lineout, and the scoreboard otherwise remained unmoved going into the last 10 minutes. Hooley opted to take a penalty to narrow the deficit to five points and then the Blues cranked up the pressure. Frantic Jersey defence kept the home side at bay – twice they were held up over the line – but eventually replacement number 8 Huw Worthington picked up from the base of a scrum and powered over. The Reds used both new loan signings in the second half, Connor Edwards replacing James Newey at the break and then Arwel Robson coming on in the 49th minute after an injury to Leroy Van Dam.