Nena returns to make trip a family affair

THE return of Nena Bourgaize has given Guernsey a timely boost ahead of their second English Counties League double-header of the season. Coach Sonia Grant-Yendall is once again without regular island captain Lorna Brown, who is currently in New Zealand visiting her sister, former Guernsey star Jenny Jordan.

Brown's daughter Kerri, who performed excellently for Guernsey earlier this season, is with her mother down under.

But Bourgaize's return from travelling provides a major fillip for the squad as they head off to play the Isle of Wight and East Dorset. She joins her mother Denise and sister, Zola, in the travelling party.

On their first double-header trip of the ECL season, a young Guernsey team earned a very creditable 44-40 win over Somerset before going down 51-31 to Herefordshire the following day - a satisfying return for the new island player-coach.

Today, the Sarnians should fancy their chances of their second victory despite having to contend with the time-consuming journey to Cowes.

The Isle of Wight have lost all three of their fixtures so far and Guernsey's assistant coach Gill Queripel said: 'My inside information is that we should beat them. They have a weak side this year.'

Tomorrow's game promises to be a much sterner test because East Dorset are top of the South-West Division with three wins out of three.

That game will be played at the neutral HMS Nelson ground in Portsmouth.