Box gets kick out of season opener

Fareham Heathens 6, Guernsey 32

THE Guernsey Rugby Club first XV gave Rob Box the ideal start to his coaching tenure. The Sarnians opened up their Hampshire League One campaign with a convincing 32-6 victory away to Fareham Heathens and a top quality all-round display that delighted the new man in charge.

'It was a fantastic performance,' said Box.

'Our scrummaging was awesome. We probably gave away about a stone per man and we lost the first scrum against the head, but after that we dominated and took five against the head. We have been working on our technique and it was excellent.

'Also, the rucking skills were very impressive with two of the tries scored off eight or nine phases of play through the forwards. The backs were fluent and showed good handling.'

It was a five-try performance in total from the Sarnians.

New skipper Carl Johnson led the way early on, scoring within the first few minutes, with Steve Burt, Jim Elliott, Dave Willis and Stuart Lloyd-Jones also crossing the line. Fly-half Lloyd-Jones added two conversions and also kicked a penalty.

'The best thing about the performance was that we played safe. We made the right decisions on when to kick and when to run and, really, we dominated the game,' said Box.

'I don't think they broke the gain line throughout the match and they probably had a stronger side than they did last year.

'Ben Le Huray had an outstanding game at scrum-half. He controlled the whole game and Andy Yabsley had an excellent game as well,' added the coach.

Box also revealed that the new idea he had brought in where the players took a cold shower after travelling to away fixtures worked well. 'It really freshened them up,' he said.

Guernsey now have a break before travelling to New Milton on Saturday 27 September.

'It was a great start but it is up to me to put everyone's feet back on the ground because that is only one game of a long season. Looking at the other results, New Milton beat Farnborough 34-0 so they will be a stern test for us,' Box said.