But they recovered their poise in the pairs, winning three out of six encounters, and gave their hosts a bit of a scare in the singles, winning four out of 12, and giving best on a tiebreak in three of the matches they lost.
Jersey’s women performed better than the men, winning two out of three in the pairs, and three out of six in the singles, but Wales came out on top overall, 30-14.
Welsh-born Gaynor Thomas teamed up with Sue Dingle to chalk up a 24-10 pairs win, while Carol Allen and Karina Bisson powered to a 24-12 victory.
In the singles, Bisson went down to Welsh star Ann Dainton, but Thomas, Allen and Christine Grimes all returned winning cards.
Robert Weale, ranked number six in the world, was a major influence on the fate of the Test Match, winning all three of his matches, and scoring 84 shots while conceding only 24.
‘It was great to have the Jersey team here in Wales, and we intend to make it an annual event,’ said Welsh secretary Hilary King.
Test Match at Cynon Valley – Wales bt Jersey 30-14 (Welsh names first): Triples: A Jones, M Williams, M Tanner bt G Thomas, S Noel, S Dingle 19-9; K Packwood, A Greenaway, A Dainton bt C Allen, C Grimes, K Bisson 22-18; R Davies, J Wilkins, R Weale bt D Boswell, A Shaw, J Lowery 26-5; R Mountstephen, R Morgan, K Peregrine bt W Waymouth, B Bisson, D Allen 27-8.
Pairs: Packwood & Tanner lost to Thomas & Dingle 10-24; Greenaway & Dainton lost to C Allen & K Bisson 12-24; Jones & Williams bt Grimes & Noel 22-8; Mountstpehen & Morgan bt B Bisson & Waymouth 28-11; Davies & Peregrine lost to Shaw & Lowery 14-32; Wilkins & Weale bt Boswell & D Allen 33-13.
Singles: Dainton bt K Bisson 10-6, 9-7; Williams lost to Grimes 1-11, 9-6, 0-1; Tanner lost to Thomas 8-7, 6-8, 0-1; Jones lost to C Allen 10-7, 3-9, 0-1; Greenaway bt Noel 6-7, 11-4, 1-0; Packwood bt Dingle 11-7, 4-9, 1-0; Wilkins bt D Allen 9-3, 10-3; Morgan bt Boswell 6-8, 13-1, 1-0; Weale bt B Bisson 11-2, 13-4; Davies lost to Lowery 9-7, 6-8, 0-1; Peregrine bt Shaw 12-5, 10-9; Mountstephen bt Waymouth 9-4, 8-8.
