LADIES PAY FOR SLOW START IN LONDON

A LOSING bonus point and impressive debuts for two players - Aimee Le Bachelet and Laura Sweeney - proved consolations for Steve Evans’ side in London.
A third away trip of the season was unfortunately not as successful as the first two, with the visitors paying for a slow start.

London Welsh applied pressure immediately from the kick off, which went short and wasn’t properly dealt with.
The home side retrieved the ball from the ruck and after four phases they were close to the Guernsey line, but knocked on.
The danger was not averted.
Guernsey lost their scrum and London Welsh gained a penalty which they took quickly before Guernsey were able to organise their defence and scored 5 metres to the right of the posts with just three minutes gone.
The conversion was missed.

Guernsey then held out well against sustained London Welsh pressure, with most of the play taking place in the Guernsey half.
Finally the pressure told and after a penalty against Guernsey for the tackler not releasing, London Welsh went quickly again against a disorganised defensive line and scored. A successful conversion made the score 12-0.
GLR made some good progress from the kick off stringing together a number of phases but ultimately lost the ball in a ruck.
London Welsh attacked with an impressive offloading game and gained another penalty at an ensuing ruck.
The home side kicked for touch but to our relief knocked on at the line out.
Guernsey, though, succumbed to the pressure in the scrum and London Welsh took it against the head, shipped the ball out wide, recycled from a midfield tackle and scored out wide on the right. An unsuccessful conversion meant the score was 17-0.

It got worse before it got better for the Sarnians.
London Welsh attacked from the kick off making huge inroads into the Guernsey half.
Another knock on, which was understandable given the wet and greasy conditions, gave Guernsey a scrum, which held firm and won clean ball.
But unfortunately the clearance kick didn’t make touch and was run back for a try in the corner.
With another unsuccessful conversion it meant the score was 22-0 for the home side after 30 mins.
With halftime beckoning Guernsey finally managed to gain a foothold in the London Welsh 22.
They had put the lacklustre start behind them and they were finally putting pressure on London Welsh.
After a few phases of play a knock on resulted in a London Welsh scrum.
An attempted clearance kick following the scrum was charged down and the resulting pressure gave Guernsey a penalty 5m out. It was taken quickly and a second penalty was given.
Again taken quickly a quick offload followed and Fiona Power scored. Jemma Crouse added the extras making the score 22-7 as the half time whistle blew.
The second half started much better for Guernsey even though they remain on a defensive footing for the majority of it.
The visiting scrum was winning its own ball consistently and this allowed the backs some front-foot ball with which to attack.
Unfortunately a free kick for feeding the scrum allowed London Welsh to go quickly against a disorganised defensive line and score to make it 27-7.
A long passage of play between the 22 metre lines was exciting to watch with neither team able to gain the upper hand in the late stages.

Then, a London Welsh knock on gave Guernsey a scrum.
Despite London Welsh pressure the Guernsey backs crossed the gain line and after three phases of play Tanya Scholtz was able to make a line break from the halfway line and score.
An unsuccessful conversion left the score at 27-12.
It was effectively the last play of the game, the final whistle being blown at the next breakdown.

It was not the result the Guernsey Ladies wanted, but the whole team showed resilience in responding and scoring two tries, but unfortunately the slow start cost the game.
Hopefully we’ll have learned a lesson that we have to switch on from the kick off when we play Reading Ladies on 28 October at Footes Lane, KO 1pm.

Please come and show your support.

Squad: 1. Andrea Harris 2. Michelle Schofield 3. Laura Sweeney 4. Sarah Woodington 5. Ellie Whittles capt. 6. Tanya Scholtz 7. Fiona Power 8. Jessica Melville; 9. Jemma Crouse 10. Justeen Baker 11. Aimee Le Bachelet 12. Vicki Rang 13. Sophie Ferbrache 14. Georgia Deniloe 15. Lael Hollingworth.
Replacements: Sophie O’Connell, El Woodward .