GUERNSEY RANKED SIXTH IN EUROPE

GUERNSEY has returned from the 2010 European Touch Championship ranked sixth in Europe, ahead of Jersey for the first time.

Four teams went to Bristol to represent the island at the four day tournament which attracted 51 teams from 15 different European nations.

‘Being ranked sixth in Europe has exceeded all our expectations. We are absolutely delighted and enormously proud of each of the 54 Guernsey players who helped us achieve that position,’ said Guernsey Touch chair Katrina Bray.

‘It’s particular impressive when you consider that Guernsey has just 400 touch players and the countries above us, which include England, Scotland, Wales and France, have thousands to select from.’

The Guernsey Mixed team, competing against 14 other teams in the mixed open competition, started the tournament with a game against New Zealand Academy, an invitational team made up of New Zealanders who were on a month long tour to the Northern Hemisphere. The game ended in a 15 – 1 defeat with the only touchdown coming from Carly Parrott who threw herself over the line to become the first person on the Guernsey scorecard.

On Friday the Mixed team began with a one-sided game against Holland which ended in an 8 – 1 victory with two touchdowns each from James Gavey and captain Mark Rodliffe and one apiece from Jemma Crouse, Debbie Wilson, Gilly Kennedy-Smith and Andrew Dunn. The second game of the day was equally one sided with Guernsey scoring 12 touchdowns against Italy who failed to break through the green’s defence. Gavey added four more to his tournament tally, with Rodliffe scoring a hat-trick, two from Ollie Ward and one apiece from Iain Atchison, Kennedy-Smith and Crouse.

The third game of the day saw Guernsey against England who were ranked second at the start of the tournament. The game ended in a 10 – 2 defeat with Dunn scoring in the first half and Alec Bailey scoring in the second after intercepting an England pass and working his way up the field with Atchison to avoid an England player. The Mixed team finished the day with a spirited game against Spain who they had beaten in the finals of last year’s Mainland Cup. Guernsey went 3 – 0 down but soon found their form and it was another win with Parrott, Rodlifffe and Ward scoring two apiece, Bailey and Gavey scoring one and a penalty touchdown being awarded to make the final score 9 – 4.

On the Saturday, Guernsey Mixed took on England Senior Mixed and lost 3 – 6 with touchdowns coming from Rodliffe, Crouse thanks to a combined effort with brother Bailey who also scored one. They then took on Wales, who ultimately won the Mixed title, and suffered their second defeat of the day scoring four to Wales’ eight. Touchdowns came from Wilson, Bailey, Parrott and Matt Brehaut.

This left Guernsey Mixed in fourth place in their pool and facing the winners of the other pool which was ironically Jersey. In a warm-up to this weekend’s inter-insular, the game was fast paced and there was little separating the teams in the first half with Parrott giving Guernsey an early lead only for Jersey to pull two back. In the second half, Jersey had the advantage and two more touchdowns gave them a place in the semi-finals which they eventually lost to come third overall.

Guernsey Mixed’s last game of the tournament was for seventh place and saw them take on France. At half-time it was one apiece after a touchdown from Rodliffe and at full-time it was two apiece thanks to Gavey which meant a drop-off. The teams went down to three players and some great defence work from Parrott kept France from scoring and finally Rodliffe, in possession of the ball, found the gap he was looking for and sprinted more than half the field to score the winning touchdown to give Guernsey seventh place.

The men’s team started their tournament with a game against Holland which ended in a 6 – 1 defeat with Guernsey’s only touchdown coming from Nick Merrien. In their second game captain Aaron Le Masurier was Guernsey’s only scorer in an 11 – 1 defeat to England but their third was far more exciting with a 9 – 0 win over Spain with a hat-trick from Le Masurier, two from Alex Miller and one each from Charlie Moore, Geraint Cooper, Chris Goddard and Matt Chick.

Their last game of the second day was a thrilling four all draw against Switzerland which saw Guernsey come back from being 3 – 1 down at half-time. Touchdowns came from Merrien and Cooper with Mark Bristowe scoring two. On the Saturday, Guernsey Men’s were down to 10 and took to the field against France wearing black armbands in respect of Moore who had to pull out due to a shoulder injury. Having persistently attacked the scoreline, Miller broke through to score in the first half and Le Masurier scored in the second but the game ended in a 9 – 2 defeat. The next game saw them take on Wales and lose 12 – 0 and their third game of the day was also another defeat with Scotland winning 9 – 0.

On the final day of the tournament, Guernsey Men’s played Ireland and after the first half were 3 – 1 down with the only Guernsey touchdown coming from Miller who ran more than half the pitch to score. In the second half another from Miller and one apiece from Sam Crawford and Cooper saw Guernsey take the lead but being down to 10 men meant tired legs and Ireland scored three more to take the final score to 6 – 4. Their last game was seventh and eight place play-off and saw them take on Switzerland. Now down to nine men after the early departure of Cooper, the Guernsey team had to contend with eighth position after losing 13 – 0.

The ladies drew Scotland as their first game which ended in a 4 – 0 defeat. Their second game was much closer with Germany taking a 4 – 2 win with Chelsie Blondel and Hannah Lord scoring for Guernsey. Blondel scored her second in the 6 – 2 defeat to Switzerland with Kay Davidson also scoring.

On the Saturday, having come bottom of their table, the ladies had a rest day but had three fixtures on the Sunday. Their first was against Cavendish Road High School, an invitational team from Australia made up of 13, 14 and 15 year-old girls who spend a considerable amount of the school curriculum studying touch. This showed on the field and the game ended in a 15 – 3 defeat for Guernsey with two touchdowns coming from Cath Docker and one from Claire Tostevin. The next fixture was a game against France which ended in a 6 – 1 defeat with Lindsay de Sausmarez scoring the only touchdown and their last game of the tournament was a narrow 3 – 2 defeat against Switzerland with Tostevin and Davidson adding to their score tally.

The newly formed Mens 30s team, affectionately known as The Zimmers, saw their international debut end in a 12 – 0 defeat to Wales. Their first game of the second day was a much closer affair and ended in a 5 – 4 win for Spain with Guernsey touchdowns from Jeremy Stubbs, Richard Field, David Pickup and captain Tristan Boscher. Their next game wasn’t so close with Scotland scoring 12 and Guernsey failing to make it over the scoreline.

Chris Parrack was the only Guernsey player to score in the 15 – 1 defeat to France and they finished the second day with a 6 – 2 defeat to Switzerland with Stubbs scoring his second of the tournament and Chris Wrigley scoring Guernsey’s second.

The first game of the third day was Guernsey Mens 30s biggest defeat of the tournament with a  19 – 0 thumping from England. Guernsey then took on Germany and scored one each in half. Using their well-rehearsed starting move Mike Kupenga scored one and Stubbs added another but the game finished in a 10 – 2 defeat. Their final game was on Sunday when they went into the seventh and eighth place play-off against Spain. At half-time they were trailing 3 -1 after a diving touchdown by Rob Hagerman but the Spaniards had the better second half and despite touchdowns for Guernsey from Mike Harris and Ben Snook, Guernsey took eighth after a 7 – 3 defeat.

‘As some of the results show, we faced some very strong teams but often the games were closer than the results maybe suggest and there is no doubt that every player gave their all whether it was for a win or for a loss. They did Guernsey proud,’ said Katrina.

At the end of the tournament the most valued player from each team was announced. Carly Parrott was MVP for Guernsey Mixed and lost out to Jersey’s Dan McDowell. Lindsay de Sausmarez received the most points for the ladies, Aaron Le Masurier for the mens and Mike Kupenga for the Men’s 30s team.

Guernsey referee Guido Bohlmann received the award for the tournament’s most improved referee and received his Level 4 badge.

The Guernsey team now take on Jersey in the inter-insular on Saturday at the Garenne Stand. The ladies game starts at 12.30, the men’s at 13.30 and the mixed at 14.30. Spectators are welcome to attend.

For more information please contact Katrina Bray on 07781 191977.