These new-look Island Invitational Netball Games at Jersey’s Oakland Sports Centre opened up with a seeding tournament, consisting of quick-fire 2x12min. matches between all six sides, and the Sarnians started superbly with a 16-14 victory against Shetland.
But they then lost 29-16 to the hosts, 25-10 to Ynys Mon, 17-14 to Orkney and 24-14 to the unusual inclusion of France’s Les Bleus.
That meant they went into the main tournament ranked fifth and above only Shetland, the earlier win against whom made Naomi Szmierek a proud head coach.
‘A good win,’ the Guernsey Netball Association development officer said.
‘The girls were brilliant and started really strong.’
The Jersey team, even if built from their Regional League Three players rather than their elite Jets, had proved tough opposition from the get-go.
‘There’s definitely a psychological barrier there,’ Szmierek added.
‘We were very edgy – very shaky start, and we took quite a lot of time to get into the game.
‘Once we did, there were some brilliant passages of play and hopefully the girls can take some confidence from that.’
That effort left them drained for Ynys Mon and, from an initial 9-0 deficit, the Sarnians had too much work to do.
The Greens rallied to truly test Orkney – who had just earlier taken a massive upset against France – and were tied 8-8 at half-time but could not get over the line.
Following on from France’s two-goal pipping of Jersey, the continental outfit were always going to be tough to beat and yet Guernsey put in a strong first-half performance to trail by just three at that point.
Guernsey ended up thrown alongside Jersey and Ynys Mon for Saturday’s full-length group matches.
They drew first blood in a highly-encouraging start against Jersey but were unable to keep pace for the 60min. duration, eventually going down 70-36.
That still marked a tighter scoreline than any other post-Covid meeting of the islands’ two representative sides.
Guernsey were beginning to flag by that point, and their best efforts were not enough to fulfil their ambition of an upset against the Welsh island, which would have allowed them to play off for third and fourth on the Sunday.
Losing 62-42 set the Sarnians up for a morning play-off against Shetland – a full-duration fight for that fifth spot.
Guernsey started solidly but suffered for their inconsistency and making costly errors.
Trailing by one at the quarter and seven at half-time, the Sarnians allowed their opponents to continue pulling away to win by a surprisingly convincing 63-41 margin. Szmierek still felt that the team, only two of whom had played the inaugural edition in the Isle of Man, gained a lot from competing at these Games.
‘Such a great experience and so much learning for the group,’ she added.
‘We matched all teams for periods but were nowhere near consistent enough, more mentally than physically, but staying in tight physical games for longer periods and not switching off.’
Shooter Bryony de Garis came away with a terrific three player-of-the-match nominations.
And the coach highlighted WA Amy Le Tocq as an individual stand-out through the tournament.
France secured the overall title through a 57-44 victory against Jersey in the big decider, while Orkney edged Ynys Mon 47-46 in a thriller that settled the third and fourth positions.
