Awesome Morgan makes it a stroll in the park

Guernsey 38, Old Paulines 13

GUERNSEY have made the step up to London South-West Four look like a stroll in the park. On Saturday at Foote's Lane, Old Paulines went the same way as Old Amplefordians and Romsey before them this season as they slipped to defeat and at this stage it is hard to see the Sarnians losing.

Inspired by the awesome running of Matthew Morgan and the subtlety of Willoughby Bloem, the home side ran in six tries and restricted their opponents to just an intercept score as they maintained their 100% record.

There are still things to work on, especially reducing the amount of infringements they make, but all the signs are very positive.

Bloem, the South African scrum half, got the ball rolling on this occasion in the fifth minute when he worked the blind side beautifully with Barry Goude for the opening score, which was converted by Werner Stroh.

Twelve minutes later, Bloem and Guernsey scored their second try, capitalising on a fine break from Iain Johnston.

The inside centre picked a terrific line as he took the ball at pace to make 30 yards before the number nine picked up and forced his way over in the left corner.

It was all so comfortable for the home side in the opening quarter as they dominated possession and territory, with Morgan usually at the centre of things, producing several of his barnstorming runs.

Then, out of the blue, Old Paulines came back into it.

Winger Ed Hayward was left facing an overlap as Guernsey attacked once more and he took the gamble of going for the intercept, which ended up paying handsome rewards as he raced more than half the length of the pitch untouched.

Captain David Evans converted to make it 12-7.

Unfortunately for Guernsey, just a few moments later Jock Quesnel injured his shoulder and that forced a reshuffle in the pack with Gareth Nicolle coming on at prop and Dave McGall moving to the second row.

That affected their whole rhythm and much of the next 40 minutes of play was scrappy and frustrating.

The one exception came straight from the second-half kick -off when Morgan returned the ball with force, making terrific yardage before offloading to James Regnard, who in turn, fed Jim Elliott and he went over for the try. Stroh converted to make it 19-7.

Old Paulines did not let their heads drop though and Evans slotted a couple of penalties to reduce the deficit to just six points with 20 minutes remaining.

Guernsey were guilty of slipping down a couple of gears and the players were obviously getting frustrated, but with so much talent in the ranks, it was only a matter of time before things clicked into place once more.

When they did, it was a joy to behold as the home side doubled their points tally in the final 10 minutes.

First of all, Bloem completed his hat-trick following Morgan's quick tap and go before the big number eight finally got the try he deserved, barging over from close range.

Substitute Stuart Lloyd-Jones then got his name on the scoresheet in the dying moments as his neat chip over the defence bounced kindly for him to gather and touch down.