WINNERS FOR BOTH ISLANDS AT CISX TOUCH CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP

GUERNSEY and Jersey teams were both winners at the weekend’s Channel Islands Stock Exchange Touch Club Championship.

The two-day tournament, which involved mixed, men’s and ladies teams from Guernsey and Jersey, saw some extremely competitive games in all three divisions.

‘It was an excellent weekend of touch and there were some incredibly tight games. We had teams from both islands and two teams which actually involved players from Guernsey and Jersey and it was interesting to see how the standard had improved since last year’s event,’ said Guernsey Touch chair Katrina Bray.

On Saturday, the six mixed, four men’s and four ladies teams each played round-robin games with three of the mixed games due to take place on Sunday morning but heavy rain meant they had to be cancelled with players agreeing that the team positions as of Saturday night would determine the semi-finals and finals.

In the men’s semi-final CISX Anzacs beat Martel-Dunn Recruits and set themselves up for a final against Isabels who had beaten Specsavers Stags in the other fixture. CISX Anzacs did the tournament sponsors proud by winning the men’s final 3 – 1 in what was a fast-paced and exciting game of touch. The CISX Anzacs was predominantly made up of Guernsey’s 1st XI rugby team and they had the edge over the Isabels team.

One of the ladies semi-finals was possibly the game of the tournament. On Saturday, Touchy Feely had been winning their round-robin game against Galaxy from Jersey 2-1 until the last 30 seconds when Galaxy broke through to draw 2 – 2. The teams met again in one of the semi-finals and after 30 minutes play, the game ended 0 – 0 and so went to a drop-off to determine the winner. After four minutes of play, the teams were down to just three players each and it took several more minutes before Touchy Feely’s Debbie Wilson broke through from dummy half and passed to Laura Cravo for the touchdown much to the delight of the Guernsey girls.

That set Touchy Feely up for a final against GPG Women’s Touch which was a replay of a number of Summer League finals. GPG Women’s Touch, which included girls from Jersey team CO2, won the game 5 – 0 with notable performances from Paula Townsend and new signing Carly Parrott.

In the Mixed Plate, Brotown faced Martel-Dunn Recruits and won 5 – 3 and in the Mixed Finals, Source Sorcerers came up against the men from CISX Anzacs who had joined together with some of the girls from Jersey’s Galaxy team to form a mixed team. Despite players suffering extremely tired legs after playing and reffing up to 11 games each in just two days, it was an excellent 30 minutes of touch. Andrew Dunn gave Source Sorcerers an early lead but they couldn’t hold onto it and the game ended in a 3 – 1 victory for CISX Anzacs.

Throughout the Channel Islands Stock Exchange Touch Club Championship, the teams had nominated a Most Valuable Player from every team they faced. Both prizes for the men’s MVP and ladies’ MVP went to Jersey. New Zealander Lauren Therin won the ladies’ MVP for her contribution to Galaxy and CISX Anzacs and former Guernsey resident Nick Guy, who now lives in Jersey, won the men’s MVP for his performances for Brotown and Martel-Dunn Recruits. Mark Rodliffe and Debbie Wilson were the Guernsey players with the most votes.

‘Our challenge now is to grow the tournament and attract teams from further afield to the Channel Islands. We’ll be talking to Jersey Touch and to the Channel Islands Stock Exchange about next year’s tournament and hope that we can make the Channel Islands Stock Exchange Touch Club Championship one of the highlights of the European touch calendar,’ said Katrina.

More information about touch in Guernsey can be found at www.guernseytouch.org.gg