Our pre-season training has gone well and we look forward to getting stuck in to our first ever League Championship 2SW game on September 9th which is away against Drybrook Ladies. It was unfortunate that we couldn’t manage to play any pre-season friendlies and it was certainly not because of want of trying, but it is fair to say that it would have been nice to get at least one run out to see how we’re doing and to gain some match fitness.

However we do travel with real hopes of performing well with a strong pack and an exciting looking if slightly ‘tweaked’ back line. We will be giving quite a few players the opportunity of GLR League debuts; Chloe Williams, Lael Hollingworth, Shannon Brown, Roxanne Richards and Rachel Merrien, although this will be by no means Rachel’s first game at this sort of level it will be nice to see her play in Guernsey colours.

We have a real mix of experienced and inexperienced players this season and for this first game in particular, so it will be interesting to see how the team adapts. With all rugby teams it is important to place emphasis on developing players at all levels, no matter what the experience and I look forward to seeing how the newer players and those who have been playing for a few years develop over the course of this season.

We do expect the level of rugby to be much higher this year and we know that we will be up for a battle with every game we play, but I want the players to go out there and express themselves and enjoy playing, we have some great talent and I know they have worked hard on their conditioning and fitness so hopefully they get their rewards on the pitch.

Our first home game is on September 23rd against Guildford Gazelles and it will be a curtain raiser on the Garenne Stand before the 1st Team play Hertford RFC, so are very much looking forward to that and all support will be greatly welcomed.

Chris Griffiths
Head Coach