Regnard's brace sees Guernsey over the line

Guernsey 19, London Cornish 9

THEY were late in coming, but James Regnard's two tries eventually gave Guernsey the edge over plucky London Cornish on Saturday at Foote's Lane. The two sides were locked at 9-9, having kicked three penalties apiece, until the 73rd minute when the big No. 8 popped up on the wing to give his side the lead for the first time and he sealed the game with a typical barging run in the first minute of injury time.

'We had a battle, of that there is no doubt,' admitted Guernsey captain Andy Bailey.

'That second half may well prove to be the most important of our season. We had to show a lot of character.'

The visitors came flying out of the blocks and there was only one side at the races in the first quarter-of-an-hour.

London Cornish were a very mobile side and they were regularly first to the breakdown and turning over ball far too often for the home supporters' liking.

Within four minutes fly half Daniel Pollard had slotted a 30m penalty through the posts and he doubled the lead a couple of minutes later from closer range after Guernsey had been caught offside.

Things looked set to get much worse for the hosts when Michael Dardis made a darting run from scrum half through a gaping hole on halfway and kicked past Barry Goude to make the fullback turn, but the black-and-gold player was rightly penalised for pulling back the Guernseyman as they both chased the bouncing ball over the try line.

It took a lengthy break for an injury to Cornish hooker Will Carew-Gibbs for Guernsey to wake up and straight from the restart a forceful run by Layton Batiste brought Foote's Lane to life.

On 19min., home debutant Blair Campbell halved the deficit from close range and Guernsey were now in the match.

However, it was Cornish who produced the only other score of the half as Pollard made it three from three seven minutes before half-time.

A few home truths were obviously spoken in the Guernsey camp at the interval and it was a much improved performance from them after the turnaround.

Campbell, who was generally neat and efficient, soon reduced the arrears to 6-9 and the teams were level after 54 minutes thanks to the New Zealander's boot.

It was his fellow countryman Peter Miers, however, who was the catalyst for much of Guernsey's good work. The tall lock was outstanding, particularly in the lineout where he won all his own ball and disrupted much of the opposition's.

However, it was not until the final 10 minutes that Guernsey really threatened the line.

Bailey was bundled into touch 10 yards out after a neat take of Cameron Patten's pass when at full tilt and he popped up on the other wing moments later to get within five yards at the end of a fine backs' movement also involving Jordan Reynalds and Goude.

From that breakdown, Guernsey kept the ball going through a couple more phases and spun it out to the right where Regnard was on hand to take the final pass from Reynalds and dive over from a couple of yards.

They should have made the game safe with three minutes remaining following a brilliant, powerful run from Jim Elliott, but a couple of players were guilty of going for glory when there was a huge overlap to the right and the opportunity was wasted.

Regnard showed how it's done with 80 minutes on the clock as he took Campbell's pass on the crash ball, handed off a couple of defenders and touched down beneath the posts.

For some reason, Campbell attempted the conversion with his left foot and dragged it wide, but the game was won.

'There are no weak sides in this league and London Cornish put together some good rugby, but I thought we were the more creative team. It was pleasing not to concede a try as well,' Bailey said.

'I felt Blair played well at 10, but with Jordan going off to the blood bin for a while, it did upset our rhythm.'