Juniors need to get away

GUERNSEY netball will have to revisit their competitive development programme following a miserable weekend on their home patch. Of the eight matches across the age groups, the Sarnians won just one, with the local over-35s preventing the clean sweep by virtue of a thumping 58-25 win in the sports hall at Beau Sejour.

Gill Queripel, the senior A coach and development coordinator, was not happy with what she saw.

'At junior level we are going to have to look at UK competition for our girls because since we stopped going to the national competitions, we have slipped behind our Jersey counterparts.

'But I will say that we have a great deal of talent on the way up and it is up to us to bring this to fruition with a lot of hard work.

'We will do it and next year we will close the gap,' she promised.

The wide margin of the over-35s' success owed much to the Caesareans utilising several of their best veterans in the senior B match.

Guernsey fielded a very experienced side and the visitors found the defence of Tracie Hards and Denise Bourgaize almost impossible to penetrate.

Anything slightly loose was snapped up by the pair and with Sarah Hoskins weaving her magic in the centre, ably backed up by Yvonne Le Gallic and Nikki Pettitt, the ball was swiftly making its way to the shooting circle where Bridget Yabsley and Jane Fear were in top form.

The senior B match went Jersey's way by 43 goals to 27.

Guernsey fielded a very inexperienced side, which was a mixture of under-18s and seniors. The oldest player was just 25.

In contrast, Jersey emerged with a side full of players who have played in the A match in recent times.

Jersey GS Zoe Hotton was in devastating form and missed the target just once all match.

The Guernsey defence of Cassie Le Page and Anais de Carteret worked tirelessly to stop the feed while at centre young Katie Daunt was a revelation in her first inter-insular.

Jersey dominated each quarter except the shared third by which time the home team were gelling as a unit.

The visitors pulled away again in the latter stages but the home side can take heart from their performance as the score did not reflect the actual play.

The under-18 game was in the balance until the final quarter.

Jersey led 11-10 at the end of the first quarter and 22-20 at half-time.

There were just three in it with 15 minutes left but the visitors powered clear in the last, scoring 11 to the home side's four.

All game, Zola Bourgaize and Amy Wright worked tirelessly in the home defence while at the other end Lyndsey Bougourd and Kerri Brown gave the Jersey defence a run for their money.

Of the remaining junior age-group matches, only the under-13s was close, with the visitors edging it 21-19 having been 14-11 adrift at the end of the third quarter.

Having won as under-12s, the home side went into the game in a positive frame of mind and for most of the match their confidence seemed justified.

In defence, Charlotte Hill had a fine match and at the opposite end Charlotte Duffy was making a good job of feeding the shooters, Laura Boyd and Stephanie Batiste.

But going into the last quarter, Duffy had been replaced and this seemed to disrupt the feed into goal.

Jersey scored at every opportunity and with the home shooters having to work hard to get the ball, their earlier accuracy tailed off.

The remaining three matches produced resounding victories for the visitors.

The under-12s was won 35-5, the under-14s 50-21 and under-15s 62-12.

In the 14s' and 15s' matches Jersey were far more experienced, enjoying the benefit of playing in the South-West Regional League.

'That type of experience is invaluable to bond a team,' said Queripel.