LEADERS GIVEN A MAJOR SCARE

JUST when you have put everything into a game and deserved so much more, comes the killer blow.
That’s what happened to our ladies in Newbury.
Having led the league leaders for a long period, an exhausted Guernsey finally succumbed to a defeat which was made even more painful by the news that big relegation rivals Teddington had been gifted a walkover by Drybrook.
Ouch!

The game had started so encouragingly too, the Guernsey pack crucifying the home pack in the first 3 or 4 scrums and eventually the visitors deservedly went ahead.
Having worked some strong phases with the forwards down the right hand side which led to a ruck inside the opposition 22, the pass was fired out to Justeen Baker at fly half who set the backline away and Fiona Ashworth at outside centre sprinted in from 15 metres out to round her opposite number to score.
Skipper Jemma Crouse failed to make the conversion, but we were ahead and nobody connected with the title favourites expected that.
Unsurprisingly, though,Newbury fought their way back into the game mainly through some fierce counter rucking and eventually scored with 10 minutes to go to half time.
This scoreline was to remain until about the 60th minute when Newbury had turned the ball over again and used their quick backline to capitalise with a well taken try.
Guernsey were still very much in the game at this point and used their strong pack to work up field on several occasions, coming close to scoring a reply only for the ball to be spilled or stolen at the ruck.
As the game edged towards the 70th minute it was still finely balanced but it was Newbury again who managed to break the line and get in behind to score for a 15-5 lead.
The last five minutes saw Guernsey enjoy all the territory and were playing keep ball well into the Newbury half and were looking for their next score only for the ball to be pinched once again at the breakdown and a break away try from their own 22 was finished off with real pace by the Newbury centre.
Game, set and match.

'Despite this being a case of top playing bottom, this was a game we all believed we could win, we knew it would be a massive upset if we could manage it and we really weren’t too far off for most of the game,’ said Chris Griffiths later.
‘It’s safe to say that we gave them a massive scare in their hunt for the title.’
What irked Griffiths a little was that once Newbury eventually took the lead, fairly late on, their coaches told their players to refuse to take the conversion so that they could hurry the game up in order that they might be able to secure the try bonus.
‘I felt at only 10-5 up this was a little bit presumptuous on their part as we were still very much in the game and could at that point still have easily won the match with a converted try.
‘They refused the kick on the next try when the scores went to 15-5 but with their fourth try scored in the dying seconds they chose to kick as the game was up. They had missed out on the try bonus but by taking the two points they cruel denied us the losing bonus point I felt was the very least we deserved out of the game.’
Griffiths remains upbeat though.
‘I am extremely proud of how the team applied themselves, they played with real belief and commitment for the full 80 minutes and never stooped trying to win the game.
‘We were unlucky as we suffered key injuries to Rachel Merrien (hip) and Tanya Scholtz (hamstring) very early on and as much as they bravely battled on they were definitely hampered, which was a shame as these two are so destructive running forward it could have changed the game had they remained fully fit.
‘Our pack were very strong and the scrums were powerful and destructive and maybe we didn’t make enough of the great platform they were providing, but credit to Newbury, in particular their backline who defended very strongly and the whole team's work at the breakdown was the best I have seen from any team in this league.
‘But we were getting so tired just from having to protect our ball from their counter rucking at every single ruck that ultimately I think we may have run out of steam in the last 10 minutes.
‘The killer blow right at the death that prevented us from getting the losing bonus point was a bitter pill to swallow and was made worse when we learnt that Drybrook had gifted Teddington a home walkover which now means we must get 10 points from the available 15 points from our last three matches.
‘However, with Wimbledon and Drybrook to play at home I still believe we can escape relegation and until it becomes a mathematical impossibility we will all continue to believe we can do it
‘Based on our last two or three performances I know there is reason to believe that there is real hope.’