XL too big for greens

Guernsey 27, XL 47

GUERNSEY were unable on Saturday to prevent a strong XL side from maintaining their 100% winning start to their South Region Division Two campaign. The visitors arrived at Beau Sejour with four wins from four and also joint top of their domestic league in England, so it was always going to be tough for the hosts.

Coach Denise Bourgaize added experienced stars such as her daughter Nena, Anais De Carteret, Gemma Loveridge and Claire Queripel to her under-19 squad for the match, although started with the youngsters who have performed really well in this campaign so far.

XL started very brightly, showing their speed and court awareness and converting shots at 95% to race into a 15-2 lead at the end of the opening quarter.

Some tactical changes, including the introduction of Loveridge and Nena Bourgaize, helped settle the home side as Guernsey started to pass the ball better, mark tighter and improve communication.

Because of that, they started to score on a regular basis through Bourgaize and Kiara De Carteret and confidence grew throughout the team with the Sarnians edging the second quarter to go into half-time trailing 23-12.

XL's work-rate never diminished, though, and using long overhead balls to their tall shooter, who did not fail to impress with her accuracy, they stamped their authority on the third quarter, winning it 13-6.

Coach Bourgaize continued to ring the changes before the fourth quarter as she was determined to give her young players more experience, bringing Katie Cochrane back into the action and introducing Katie Daunt at wing attack.

Part of the transformation saw the coach's two daughters, Nena and birthday girl Zola, who was 19 on Saturday, working together in attack and they combined well.

However, star of the show was centre Lyndsey Bougourd, whose experience from being part of the Team South squad in the National Talent League shone through in an excellent display.

'The first quarter made it difficult for us. We had to come back from 15 goals to two and the damage had already been done,' said Denise Bourgaize.

Wing attack Donna Brehaut added: 'XL were a very physical team and we have to learn to stand up to such a team and hold our own.

'We will take a lot of positives from this game. We are a young team and will build on each match experience.'