LADIES OFF TO FLYER

The Guernsey Ladies made an impressive start to life under new coach Steve Evans and at the lower South East West One level.
Running in eight tries, seven of which were converted by former skipper Jemma Crouse, the ladies won well.
Guernsey settled early season nerves with a try in the first two minutes.
A kick off that didn’t quite make the 10 metres was run back and after 5 phase of play Guernsey found themselves in front of the Slingbacks’ posts.
A penalty for an infringement in the ruck was taken quickly and the first try was on the board scored by newcomer Jessica Melville.
The next 10 minutes was tense with play mainly in the Slingbacks’ half, but having moved the ball wide centre Vicki Rang touching down for the second try.
The third try came from a scrum won against the head.
The ball went along the Guernsey back line and a chip over a rapidly advancing defensive line was collected by the Slingbacks winger.
A crunching tackle and excellent counter rucking resulted in a turnover and Guernsey were able to take advantage of a disorganised defence with a break down the right and a try under the posts and another conversion by Jemma Crouse meaning Guernsey were 21 points ahead at half-time.

Guernsey kicked off for the second half and immediately applied pressure and were soon sitting on the Slingbacks line. A scrum penalty was taken quickly for the fourth try on the game.
Guernsey took confidence from the score line and settled into the game, defending well when Slingbacks had the ball and succeeding in keeping them pinned back in their own half for the majority of the second 40 minutes.
A break by the Slingbacks winger took play up to the Guernsey 22 but a scramble defence held firm and turned over the ball and advanced down the pitch to score a further try.
At this stage the Slingbacks suffered a number of injuries which meant uncontested scrums, which robbed Guernsey of some of their dominance but that didn’t stop them scoring a further three tries.

Three new Guernsey players took part in the victory which bodes well for the squad and the rest of the season.
Despite the scoreline this was a hard fought victory.
The Slingbacks refused to give up and fought hard to the end of the game despite a number of injuries.
Next up is another away game at Witney this weekend.

Tries: Jessica Melville 2, Tanya Scholtz 3, Jemma Crouse 2, Vicki Rang 1.
Conversions: Jemma Crouse 7.