ALMOST DOWN, BUT FAR FROM OUT

A PERFORMANCE to stir the heart, but ultimately not enough to keep Chris Griffiths’ side from filling the wooden-spoon spot in Championship Two South West.
If only the girls could have found their early 2018 form a couple of month earlier.
‘Gaining two points on the day was a great achievement in many respects but of course it does not help us in regards to staying up,’ said Griffiths afterwards.
Elsewhere and against all the odds 7th placed Teddington beat top of the league Newbury, who were at home, 14-19, which rendered any positive Guernsey result as almost meaningless.
‘If we had got a try bonus win we would still have been clutching at straws to avoid the drop,’ said the Guernsey coach.
‘The gifted four points for the walkover that Drybrook gave Teddington has really done it for us and we cannot now mathematically get off the bottom, but I know the coaches and the players will take so much from how we have played over the last four games and have proved that we can be truly competitive at this level.’

On reflection, this draw was a superb effort, Ellie Whittles’ try cancelling out a fine score by a flying Wimbledon winger.
‘The ladies played out of their skins and with real heart and courage, epitomised by Fiona Ashworth who had to leave the pitch to pretty much get her ear sewn back on.
‘We never gave up hope of the win even when we went 5-0 down and hadn’t really enjoyed any great field position at the time. The desire not to lose and to try and get the win at all costs was very evident for me, but things just didn’t quite click for us and to be fair Wimbledon defended very well.’
Theoretically Guernsey should now be relegated down a level but the RFU have been known to change things around and perhaps, with some restructuring and other teams requesting to drop down etc, our Ladies might well be playing at the same level next season.
Either way, Griffiths is far from negative.
‘From our point of view as coaches and players we are focusing
on what’s coming up and we still have two league games left and we will try to go out and win both as we have done all season.
‘It would be great to end the season strongly, playing some really good rugby, especially with one eye on the Siam Cup on May 5th.’

Starting XV
Michaela Rabey, Sophie O'Connell, Heidi Mahy, Ellie Whittles, Kristine Vavere, Tanya Scholtz, Fiona Power, Rachel Merrien; Jemma Crouse (C), Justeen Baker, Carly Duchemin, Hannah Guilbert, Fiona Ashworth, Chelsie Blondel-Power, Vicki Rang.
Replacements: Janelly Le Maitre, Tara Robert, Rebecca Drury, Sophie Ferbrache, Aimee Gaudion, Chloe Williams.