With five minutes to go the game could have gone either way. A match which should have seen Guernsey Ladies home and dry was in the balance as the home side scored with five minutes to go to make it a three-point game.

But Chris Griffiths’ team held their nerve and with one last push scored a converted try to make the game safe and stay on the coat-tails of NC South East South One leaders Lewes. Guernsey got off to a bright start right from the kick off and continued to go through the phases well and Medway struggled to handle the quick hard yards the Guernsey forwards were putting in around the fringes.

The first scrum saw Guernsey powerfully push the Medway pack back at a rate of knots and formed a pattern for the rest of the game with Guernsey able to establish a very solid platform at the set piece.

Around the ten minute mark, continued pressure from Guernsey eventually led to some quick hands moving the ball away from a breakdown and Fiona Ashworth charged over the line breaking through a couple of tackles on the way to scoring under the posts. Jemma kicked the conversion. After another ten minutes and with the Guernsey pack clearly in the ascendency, the away side again forced their way into the opposition 22 after some strong running in midfield.

From a ruck very near to the Medway try line the ball was plucked by scrum half and Captain Jemma Crouse who then cleverly dived low to get the ball down over the line amidst a cluster of defenders. Jemma very narrowly missed the 2 pts to leave the score at 0-12 to Guernsey.

Guernsey’s superiority in the first half was cemented by another try which came after the ball squirted out of the scrum and the loose ball was reached first by Crouse who swiftly popped the ball back inside to the supporting run of open side flanker Fiona Power who then smashed over the line to score, the score at half time was a comfortable 0-17.
But the game was far from done and dusted.

Medway came flying out of the blocks in the 2nd half and scored a well taken try within 2 minutes of the restart after getting a good set of phases together and finally getting some real momentum. The conversion was scored: 7-17.

Medway suddenly had their tails up and Guernsey were having to do some frantic scrambling defence until Medway once again breached the Guernsey line with some strong running from their backs: 12-17.

Guernsey were to score next and settle a few nerves after finally getting their hands back on the ball and recycle well dragging the defenders from one side of the pitch to the other, with full back Vicki Rang eventually running over the line to touch down with a well finished try after some fine handling along the back line. Unbelievably, Jemma hit both uprights with the conversion and it bounced out so the score was finely poised at 12-22 with ten minutes to go.

In a game that was now swinging one way then the other, Guernsey were guilty of falling off tackles and a third try to Medway was well taken as they scored near to the posts with 5 minutes to go. The conversion was scored: 19-22.

The next 5 minutes would prove absolutely crucial to the outcome of the match and Guernsey seemed to grab the game back by the scruff of its neck as they found their composure and started to go through the phases well to drive downfield. From the base of a ruck Tanya Scholtz picked up the ball and burst through a gap braking through 2 tackles before offloading to her ever present back row partner Fiona Power who then sprinted clear of the covering defence to score under the posts to the delight of her teammates. Jemma scored the kick.

The coach was both happy and proud, “I am really pleased with the first 25 minutes of the first half which went really well and we were very dominant, but I think after we scored the third try we felt we had the game in the bag, a justified notion considering we were destroying Medway in the scrums to the point that we were told at half time by the referee to ease off in the front row for the sake of safety. I think we just lost focus and intensity for small patches of the second half, and with some missed tackling we really let them right back into the game very much against the run of play – a lesson for the need of complete concentration we need to implement for the next game."

"I am very proud of how they team dug deep in the last 5 minutes and secured the win by playing the right way, they showed a lot of guts and determination not to allow the game to slip through their fingers."