Big two show their strength in openers

NETBALL's big two - Nerine Trust A and Meespierson Reads Sarnians One - have opened the season well and cruised to victory in their respective matches against TCCI and Nerine Trust C at Beau Sejour. Predictably Nerine A denied TCCI any chance of a consolation point, but nevertheless TCCI did well to score 27 times. Not many sides may achieve that against the champions this winter.

It was an easy game for the two umpires who had virtually nothing to do, with good clean play from start to finish.

Both sides owed a lot to their defence with Nerine's formidable GK Denise Bourgaize and TCCI GK Sarah Harris earning the player-of-the- match nominations.

Sarnians One made light work of Nerine Trust C and again good defence was crucial to the outcome.

Sarnians GD Liz Stonebridge and her opposite number, Rachel Guille, both chalked up their first individual nominations of the season.

Last year's Division Two champions MeesPierson Reads Sarnians Two faced a baptism of fire when they lined up against Nerine Trust B.

They battled hard but were up against it from the outset, with GS Claire Green, who recently transferred from Ship & Crown, working well with GA Anna Trump and together with her shooting accurately to pile on the points.

Elsewhere in Division One, Nerine Trust D edged out Nerine Trust E 34-29.

Division Two produced victories for Guernsey Motor Spares against Nerine Trust F, Heritage One against Rothschilds and P & J Conservatories against Ship & Crown.

The latter match looked set to be a very one-sided affair when P & J Conservatories stormed ahead.

But Ship & Crown showed commendably tenacity as they steadily battled back to finish the match with a hard-earned consolation point.

Newcomers MeesPierson Reads Sarnians Three finished strongly to edge out K & R Flooring, who had dominated the early proceedings.

But in the third quarter, Sarnians outscored their opponents by 12 goals to snatch the lead and held on to win in the fourth.

In Division Three, PWC took a relatively easy win from youngsters Nerine Trust K despite being a player down for the first quarter.

Autumn Gold One never looked troubled by Nerine Trust H but their sister team, Two, couldn't stem the flow against JT Electrics with WA Tracey Teed collecting a player-of- the-match nomination for her excellent link play within the shooting circle.