THE agony and ecstasy of sport was perfectly encapsulated during the golf Inter-Insulars at L’Ancresse, with Jersey’s ladies returning victorious, while the men in red fell on the sharp side of a remarkable comeback from Guernsey, in relentless wind and driving rain on Sunday.
Both of the Caesarean squads travelled to enemy shores as defending champions, knowing full well that victories away from home are in short supply.
For Nicola Mollin, the fixture marked her first away inter-insular as team captain, and her blended side of youth and experience looked assured from start to finish en route to a 13-7 win over the Sarnians.
“I’m incredibly proud of the whole team,” said Mollin.
“To go away and perform like that shows how tight their bond is. Guernsey are very strong on home soil and I think the team spirit we displayed throughout the weekend was brilliant.
“I managed to jump around a lot of the matches to spectate and the standard of golf played from both sides was very impressive.
Following a 3-2 opening session win in the foursomes, Jersey swept the fourballs to take a commanding lead into the singles.
Despite the whitewash, the scoreline does not always tell the whole tale, with two matches claimed with 1up victories on the final hole, while another concluded on the 17th.
“We were really clutch down the stretch in the fourballs,” continued the captain.
“Some of the matches were really tight and to win them all just showed immense character.
“That set us up leading 8-2 into Sunday needing just 2.5 points from ten to win.
“We still knew we couldn’t sit back. Golf is very momentum based and we didn’t want to give Guernsey the hope of a comeback.
“Given the weather conditions on Sunday, I was so proud of the way the ladies carried themselves.
“They remained upbeat despite the wind and rain and completely focused on the job at hand.
“For me personally, as captain, winning on debut last year was special, but to do it in Guernsey and back up the win is an amazing feeling.
“We have a great core group of players and we’re already buzzing for the match at Royal Jersey next year.”
Meanwhile, as the ladies celebrated, Jersey men’s captain Chris Young and his side were left in a state of shock, after Guernsey mounted an inspired comeback to reverse a 0-5 deficit after the first session to claim 11 of the remaining 15 points on offer – reclaiming the crown 11-9.
“I’m not going to beat around the bush, we are really disappointed,” said Young.
“I don’t think in our wildest dreams did we think we were going to come away from the foursomes 5-0 up like we did last year, but we were not complacent.
“We spoke at lunch about how they will fight to come back and they certainly did.
“To get 1.5 points from the fourballs was a good result as we were down in every match at one point.
“It still gave us a really good chance heading into the singles and we were positive about getting a result.”
The two pairings that dug out results in the fourballs were the all La Moye pairings of Jo Hacker with Charlie Kiberd and Andy Clarke with Jeremy Phillips.
The former managed to turn their match around to win 2&1, while Clarke and Phillips would earn a hard-fought half.
However, Guernsey had seized momentum, which they would duly carry into a remarkable Sunday singles session to turn the match on its head.
In awful conditions, the Guernsey caddies were worth their weight in gold, keeping their players and their clubs as dry as possible.
From the ten matches, there were just two in red who claimed a point.
Firstly Kiberd, who defeated Sarnian stalwart Tom Le Huray 3&2 to end the weekend with three points from three, while clubmate Clarke got the better of Danny Bisson by the same margin to also finish unbeaten from three matches.
Sam Quail halved his match, but the remaining seven duels all went the way of the hosts.
“We can’t control the weather,” added Young.
“I think if the conditions stayed similar to the opening day then it would have been difficult for them to win.
“But, as I said in my speech, Guernsey deserve a lot of credit.
“They played some wonderful golf in the singles and it is a real testament to them given the conditions.
“We will still take a lot of positives away from the weekend.
“We had Charlie [Kiberd] who earned maximum points, which is incredible, while Andy [Clarke] came back with 2.5.
“The stars clearly didn’t align on this occasion and perhaps the caddies Guernsey had on the final day played a key part as well.
“But we will hold our heads high. All the lads fought hard and I’m proud of all of them.
“We will look forward to next year at Royal Jersey and an opportunity to get that trophy back.
Ladies Inter-Insular results
Foursomes (Jersey named first)
(3&2) A Lucas Villar/A Harris vs V Bougourd/D Aitchison
(7&5) H Scriven/S Cornic vs M Bate/D Stenner
H Lagadu/C Cadoret vs K Mapley/L McNeela (3&2)
(2up) B Lambert/I Hamid-Wilkinson vs S Ingrouille/J Ballay
J Adlington/L Buckley vs C Domaille/C Gaudion (2up)
Jersey 3-2 Guernsey
Fourballs
(2&1) H Lagadu/C Cadoret vs V Bougourd/M Bate
(1up) A Lucas-Villar/S Cornic vs C Gaudion/C Domaille
(3&2) J Adlington/H Scriven vs L McNeela/J Ballay
(5&4) A Harris/L Buckley vs S Ingrouille/K Mapley
(1up) I Hamid-Wilkinson/B Lambert vs D Aitchison/D Stenner
Jersey 5-0 Guernsey
Singles
(A/S) L Buckley vs V Bougourd (A/S)
(2&1) H Gray vs C Gaudion
(3&2) H Scriven vs D Aitchison
I Hamid-Wilkinson vs J Ballay (2&1)
(A/S) A Harris vs L McNeela (A/S)
S Cornic vs M Bate (3&2)
C Cadoret vs S Ingrouille (1up)
(9&8) A Lucas-Villar vs D Stenner
(4&3) B Lambert vs K Mapley
(8&7) J Adlington vs C Domaille
Jersey 5-5 Guernsey
Overall: Jersey 13-7 Guernsey
Men’s Inter-Insular results
Foursomes (Jersey named first)
(3&1) J Hacker/C Kiberd vs C McKenna/L Marley
(2&1) A Guelpa/J Ozard vs D Griggs/J Tucknott
(2up) M Parkman/S Quail vs T Le Huray/D Blondel
(1up) J Phillip/A Clark vs J Blondel/S Mahy
(2&1) J Draisey/K Quigg vs D Bisson/T Pattimore
Jersey 5-0 Guernsey
Fourballs
J Draisey/K Quigg vs C McKenna/L Marley (4&3)
A Guelpa/J Ozard vs T Le Huray/D Blondel (2&1)
(2&1) J Hacker/C Kiberd vs J Blondel/S Mahy
M Parkman/S Quail vs D Bisson/T Pattimore (5&4)
(A/S) J Phillips/A Clarke vs D Griggs/J Tucknott (A/S)
Jersey 1.5 – 3.5 Guernsey
Singles
A Guelpa vs D Blondel (4&3)
K Quigg vs C McKenna (2&1)
J Hacker vs J Blondel (2up)
(3&2) C Kiberd vs T Le Huray
(A/S) S Quail vs T Pattimore (A/S)
J Draisey vs Lewis Marley (2&1)
M Parkman vs S Mahy (2&1)
J Phillips vs D Griggs (2&1)
(3&2) A Clarke vs D Bisson
J Ozard vs J Tucknott (3&2)
Jersey 2.5 – 7.5 Guernsey
Overall: Jersey 9-11 Guernsey
