Half-time rollocking does the trick for Guernsey

Guernsey 39 KCS Old Boys 0

A FEW half-time home truths kicked Guernsey into action at Foote's Lane on Saturday. KCS Old Boys never looked like they were going to cause an upset, indeed the closest they came to scoring was from a hopelessly placed Guernsey pass inside their own 22, but it took the hosts until after the turnaround to find their form.

'It should have been a lot more, but we would have taken 39-0 before the game,' captain Andy Bailey said.

'The first half execution was poor to say the least and we got a pretty good rollocking at half-time.

'We put it right in the second half and got some good structure to our play.'

To be fair, the first few minutes were bright for the home side as they showed good, quick hands from the kick off and then shoved KCS off the ball at the visitors' first put into a scrum with an immense push.

The skipper himself also had the chance to open the scoring in the fourth minute but found Dylan Chatterton's high pass too difficult to take at full pace.

However, these few moments only served to make Guernsey complacent and things got dreadfully scrappy for much of the remainder of the half.

Nick Barton put the hosts ahead on 11 minutes with a penalty but then drifted just wide on two further attempts.

Even when the visitors had Marc Davies and then Paul Calaminus sin-binned for varying offences at the ruck within a couple of minutes of each other, Guernsey failed to make their numerical advantage count.

Things were not helped when Divon Crouse was lost to an arm injury on 33min. It was later believed to be a fracture, which would sideline him for the foreseeable future.

It was not until first half stoppage time that the green-and-whites broke through the KCS defence.

Jordan Reynalds' long clearance was well chased by Chatterton who bundled Mark Whalley into touch just a few metres out from the line.

The same players combined once again from the resultant line-out with Chatterton taking Reynalds' pop pass at pace and powered through a tackle before racing to the line, giving Barton a simple conversion.

The start to the second half was as sloppy as much of the first as Chatterton's restart failed to make the necessary 10m but the Guernsey pack redeemed the situation with another big push at the scrum and Ben Le Huray, having moved to scrum half from inside centre to replace Crouse, opportunistically hacked on the loose ball, chased, gathered and went over. It was a magnificent individual effort and Barton added the extras to make it 22-0.

Just four minutes later the departing Darren Jones set up Chatterton for his second but the Welshman could not get himself on the scoresheet soon afterwards as he knocked on just short of the line following Le Huray's break.

Jim Regnard seldom goes a match without making his mark and he did brilliantly to pick up at the base of a scrum - again won against the head - and roll through a couple of would-be tacklers to touch down Guernsey's fourth try and complete an 11-minute purple patch.

The final two scores came in the last five minutes thanks to excellent pack work.

Simon Sharrott came up with the ball after a catch and drive while replacement hooker Rob Palmer got the congratulations following another fine scrum against the head. Chatterton added an excellent left-footed conversion to the final try.

'It just got horrible in the first half - passes going astray, taking the soft option or the wrong option - but you learn from these things,' Bailey said.

'I do not think we will play a first half as bad as that again this season.'

Guernsey now have a weekend break before their next match away to London Cornish and the rest period could prove vital considering the amount of injuries picked up by the green-and-whites during this victory.

Replacements Jim Elliott and Ben Mahy both joined Crouse in leaving the action while others hobbled on until the final whistle.