Revenge was enjoyed in some style in the UK as we began a new NC South East South One campaign with a 57-5 win. ‘We fully expected a close match and although we were confident that we could get the win we certainly felt up against it being away from home with half a dozen of the regular first XV players unavailable to travel and a completely new back line that have had little chance to play together,’ said coach Chris Griffiths.
But he worries!!!

The game got off to a great start with a scrum awarded to Guernsey after Worthing knocked on from the kick off. Guernsey drove the Worthing pack back who were penalised for popping up in the front row. New on-field captain Jemma Crouse elected to kick to touch which she duly did and from the resulting lineout Guernsey created a catch and drive that went all the way from the opposition 22 to the try line where the skipper dotted down for the first try which she converted from wide out on the left.

The Worthing team seemed a little shellshocked and 10 minutes later Guernsey went over again after some great direct running and continuity between forwards and backs, Crouse converted. A couple more tries were scored by Guernsey in the first half, one right on the whistle and just after a Worthing player had been yellow carded after a collection of dangerously high tackles and we went in 26-0 to the good.

The second half opened up even more as the superior conditioning and fitness of our team became evident. Guernsey eventually ran in five more tries and only conceded one try right in the far right hand corner after being marched backwards 20 yards from penalties and with the bonus point easily secured also came a place at the top of the table after the first weekend’s round of matches.

‘I was exceptionally pleased with the pace, power and energy levels that we showed throughout the entire game, our levels never really dropped off,’ said coach Chris Griffiths. The systems we had in place last season all worked well and the new ones we are trying to implement this season are also starting to bear early fruits. The fitness levels and pace of all the players has improved since the end of last season and that was very telling. There are as always areas to improve on, in particular we need to be quicker and stronger at the breakdown, an area we hope to be better at against Barnes on Saturday.’

Try scorers:
Hannah McLennan 3, Tanya Scholtz 3, Lauren Finch 1, Sarah Woodington 1, Jemma Crouse 1, Conversions: Jemma Crouse 6

As for this weekend’s Saturday lunchtime kick off at home to Barnes Guernsey are back to full strength. ‘That should give us the edge with some great impact players to come off the bench,’ said the coach. Confidence will be high but we will not be complacent as we don’t know what Barnes will be like having never played them and their match against Canterbury was cancelled on the weekend so it’s hard to gauge where they are at.’

Squad:
Michaela Rabey, Sophie O'Connell, Beth Gabriel, Kristine Vavere, Sarah Woodington, Tanya Scholtz, Fiona Power, Ellie Whittles, Jemma Crouse (capt.), Fiona Ashworth, Lauren Finch, Hannah McLennan, Jillian Smith, Anneka Saunders and Vicki Rang.

Replacements:
Andrea Harris, Heidi Mahy, Eleanor Woodward, Michelle Schofield, Janelly Le Maitre, Emma Rayson and Tara Robert.