Jersey RFC Women 41
Tries: McGuigan (2), Davies, Le Luan, Saout (2), Turpin
Cons: Magner (3)
Beccehamian Ladies 0
ASHLING MAGNER hailed a complete team performance as Jersey RFC Women took another big leap towards the NC2 South East (South) title and promotion.
It was another hugely impressive win in an impressive season. This time next week, they could be champions.
The cold, wet and windy conditions would cower most souls, but Jersey stuck to the task with red-blooded fervour. Their guests, Beccehamian Ladies from the south-west London surburb of West Wickham, were no match for their physically and technically superior hosts. ‘Only’ seven tries to none seemed merciful considering how much the ball was camped in the visitors 22.
Four of the tries were executed by Jersey’s incumbents on the right wing. A double apiece for Claudia McGuigan and Lisa Saout in each of the halves, while Willow Le Luan, Laura Turpin and Tina Davies got their names on the scoresheet too, while stand-in skipper Magner, right, added to the points tally with three conversions.
It’s a measure of their standards that Magner saw improvement on the week before’s away 24-0 away win at Crawley.
“Last week, in messy conditions, we probably didn’t spin the ball out of the back field as much as we wanted to. Today, we really used our hands and we executed better,” Magner said.
“It was such a team performance. Everyone stood up in their position and played as a unit and it was a really enjoyable game to play, so we’re really proud.”
The first try was indicative of Jersey’s greater strength, with Beccehamian pushed back around 40 metres back to their own five despite being in possession throughout. The home side seized the moment to force a turnover and the ball was eventually worked out to the right for McGuigan to finish. Soon after, another powerful attack led to McGuigan’s second try.
For a brief period the brutality of the sport was on show as soldiers fell under the impact and both clubs were forced to make early replacements. After a long delay, patching up the troops in the trenches, Jersey worked a third try for Davies in the far corner.
Just minutes into the second half, Jersey forced another turnover not far from the opposing tryline and Le Luan graciously accepted her opportunity to score.
Saout then showed a clean pair of heels in the wake of the first of her two tries, flying down the right wing. Papworth casually shoved her way through her opponents and dived across the line for Jersey’s sixth try, before Saout rounded things off with another fine individual effort, opening up her stride and galloping half the length of the field.
Five more points in the bag. Three games left, two at home, promotion surely to be secured in one of them. This is a team that continually strives for improvement. It’s not enough to win the league this season. Their development arc is a steep gradient, thanks to all involved with the club.
“It’s always about building for us and making sure that when we move up, we stay there and we make a name for ourselves up there. And all the girls are really united in that which is really exciting,” added Magner. “We’ve been blessed to have such huge development over the years. And we all watched the Reds for years.
“We’ve had loads of resources to use and it’s really come together as a club.
“The boys get behind us and we get behind the boys, and everyone at the whole club works hard for each other, we support each other at games.
“If you think there’s 15 players on the pitch, but there is so much that goes on behind the scenes that people don’t see. We’ve got the minis and juniors that are really prospering and there’s so many girls in that as well, which is so exciting because many of us didn’t have that growing up. We didn’t get to play minis and juniors so it’s a lot more natural for them to step into the senior squad.”
Jersey RFC Women: Nicola Rodrigues-Ferreira, Lucy Hart, Kirsten Slatter, Willow Le Luan, Helen Papworth, Abbie Syvret, Kim Vallance, Andi Vaughan, Ashling Magner, Laura Turpin, Tina Davies, Kerry Bisson-Mercury, Bethan Hughes, Claudia McGuigan, Kim Hocquoil. Replacements: Franky Vautier, Hannah Le Moignan, Beth Rosser, Emily Hart, Lisa Saout
