This Is Guernsey

Tom Ceillam was a try scorer for Guernsey in France. (Picture by Tony Pike, 0471957)

GUERNSEY came back from the European Touch Championships empty-handed after having been drawn against some of the world’s most experienced teams.

Although the island has been represented at the 2004 and 2006 Europeans, this was the first time that Guernsey had three teams at the event, which attracted competitors from all over Europe and as far away as Australia.

‘It was a fantastic tournament and the level of touch was even higher this time than in 2006,’ said Guernsey Touch chairman Andrew Hutton. ‘Having been to two Euros as a developing nation, this year we were considered to be established and so came up against teams like Scotland, France and England whose experience and access to a wider pool of players proved to be their strengths.

‘Although the results weren’t in our favour, the standard of play from the three Guernsey teams was excellent and there was a noticeable improvement from start to finish.

‘We now have a strong core of local players and so we will be able to build on this ready for 2010.’

The mixed team played seven games during the three-day tournament.

Their first was against Barbarians who were playing together for the first time having come together from three different European countries.

That gave Guernsey the advantage and the game ended 9-1 with two tries each from Aaron Le Masurier and Richard Perrio and one apiece for Alec Bailey, Andy May, Lindsay de Sausmarez, Claire Gaston-Parry and Hutton.

The next game against Ireland ended in an 8-3 defeat with Le Masurier and Perrio adding another try each to their tournament tally and Mark Rodliffe, who was named Guernsey mixed most valued player of the tournament, scoring the third.

The last mixed game of the first day saw Guernsey beat Spain 9-4 with Bailey getting a hat-trick, May scoring two and Perrio scoring his fourth of the tournament. The other three came from Clio Phelan, who scored twice, and Ariane Turner.

On the Saturday Guernsey played the eventual mixed runners-up, England, and lost 6-2 with tries from Rodliffe and Le Masurier. New Zealand Academy defeated them 22-0 and Italy overcame the Sarnians 6-2 with de Sausmarez and Turner scoring one apiece.

The final mixed game on the Sunday against Wales saw Rory Jones scoring Guernsey’s only try in a 6-1 loss.

The women’s team also had seven games over the three days, all bar one ending in defeat.

The first, against eventual winners England, ended 14-0 but they bounced back for their second game against Scotland 30s, which saw Emma Curtis score a try to tie the game 1-1. Curtis scored again in the last game of the day, which Germany won 4-1.

The first game on Saturday was in front of the main stand of the tournament venue on the outskirts of Paris and was a preview of the inter-insular. Jersey won 7-0 on this occasion.

The Sarnians then succumbed to Scotland 10-0 and 2-0 to France in a closely fought match.

The final women’s game on the Sunday was against Wales, who proved they were worthy overall runners-up with a 9-0 victory.

Guernsey men had just four fixtures over the Friday and Saturday having been drawn in the A pool with just four other teams.

The first was against Jersey, which ended in a 7-2 defeat for Guernsey, with Wade Vincent scoring both tries, and the next against Colonials ended in a 14-1 defeat, Richard Duchemin being the only Sarnian try scorer.

Their final game on the Friday against England saw Guernsey lose 8-0.

The following day Guernsey warmed up with a friendly against eventual men’s over-30 runners-up England 30s and in an exciting game which saw the lead change several times, Guernsey took a 5-4 win with two tries from Jason Batiste and one each from Vincent, Matt Brehaut, Tom Falla and Tom Ceillam.

Their only official game on the Saturday was against Scotland which saw Brehaut, Vincent and Duchemin add one each to their tally and Andrew Dunn and James Gavey adding another two to the score which ended in an 11-5 win for Scotland.

‘We now have little more than a week to go before we host Jersey for the inter-insulars and the team is going to be working hard to try and ensure that we don’t let Jersey take the trophy back with them,’ said Hutton.

The inter-insulars takes place on Saturday 2 August at Blanche Pierre Lane with the first game due to start at midday.

Article posted on 24th July, 2008 - 2.29pm