Champions withstand the early onslaught

Meespierson Reads Sarnians 28, Nerine Trust A 47

ONLY a miracle will stop Nerine Trust A retaining their Condor Group League crown. A second victory of the season over their nearest rivals Meespierson Reads Sarnians at Beau Sejour last night virtually wrapped up the title, but their opponents took a great deal of credit in defeat and the scoreline did them scant justice.

Sarnians were excellent in the first quarter and led for much of it, as their experience shone through.

While in possession they showed a lot of composure, with the centre court trio calmly moving the ball around and together with their shooters they made several openings, which both Bridget Yabsley and Zoe Batiste capitalised on with aplomb.

Sarnians even raced into a 3-0 lead - 'probably one of the first times we have stolen a lead against them,' Yabsley remarked later.

In defence they were also impressive with Nerine constantly harried. The champions, on the other hand, were disjointed and guilty of overplaying at times, causing coach Gill Queripel to call out 'steady, let's catch it first' on more than one occasion.

But they say the sign of a quality side is that it wins when not playing well and Nerine did just that in the first quarter, somehow battling back to finish it 10-9 to the good.

A couple of alterations before the second helped sharpen them up and before long Nena Bourgaize and Sonia Grant-Yendell were extending the lead, although it was the tightening up in defence that was crucial with Sarnians struggling to get into the circle.

Into the second half and stamina began to play a part as Sarnians suffered their worst quarter in the third, losing it 13-4.

But they commendably kept fighting and almost shared the spoils in the fourth until two late goals made it 11-9 for Nerine over that 15min.

'Sarnians took it to us, they played it hard and showed a lot of fire, while we were not as sharp as we could have been,' said Queripel. 'In the first quarter Zoe and Bridget were popping them in from everywhere but from then on we were very tight in defence.'

Sarnians coach Tracie Hards was delighted with her side's improvement compared to the last time the sides met.

'The only thing that was slightly disappointing was that the difference in the score at the end did not reflect the way we played. I think we rattled them,' she said.

'Everyone played to her potential and I am proud of that. Probably the difference in the end was age - they are younger.'

n?THE Guernsey squad has been left devastated after being prevented from competing in this weekend's European Netball Open Championships at the 11th hour.

The Sarnians had the plug pulled on them yesterday, little more than 24 hours before they were due to travel to Sheffield, because the International Netball Federation deemed them and the Isle of Man ineligible for the event.

'The rug has been pulled from underneath us,' said island player-coach Sonia Grant-Yendell.

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