CISX CHANNEL ISLANDS CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP WAS THE BEST YET

 

TEAMS and players from Guernsey, Jersey and the UK took titles at the weekend’s CISX Channel Islands Club Championship.

The two-day tournament, which is now in its third year, was held on Saturday and Sunday and saw 13 teams taking part in a round-robin competition.

‘It was a great weekend and the standard of touch and sportsmanship was fantastic. Our aim is to improve the CISX Channel Islands Club Championship each year and I think we achieved that goal this year. The UK team has already said they want to return next year and bring more teams with them and we know that we can always count on the support from Jersey and so now we just have to make sure we can meet their expectations,’ said Guernsey Touch chair Katrina Bray.

Four Guernsey teams took part in the men’s competition and after playing each other once, only Show me your TDs, which was made up of players from league sides Source Temps Tigers and Galaxy, had won all three of their games. Panthers had won two and lost one and so secured a place in the final with Mid Lager Crisis and Martel-Dunn Recruits playing for third and fourth place having lost two and drawn one. Mid Lager Crisis, which is the Men’s Over 30s team going to represent the island at next month’s European Championship, showed that their training had paid off by beating Martel-Dunn Recruits 3 – 1 to secure third spot.

In the finals, the experience of the island players in Show me your TDs proved too much for Panthers and the game ended in an 8 – 0 victory for Show me your TDs with a hat-trick for island coach Mark Rodliffe.

Just three teams took part in the ladies competition and although all were from Guernsey, two included players from Jersey. Rhubarb and Custard had to settle with third place having lost all of their games and so it was a repeat of last year’s final with the newly named Galaxy taking on GPG A Woman’s Touch. The result was also a repeat with GPG A Women’s Touch taking the title with a 4 – 0 win.

In the mixed competition, it took the last round-robin game to decide which of the six teams would be in which play-off. After five games Source Sorcerers from Guernsey, Hot Custard from London and Carey Olsen 2 (CO2) from Jersey had all won four games and lost one giving them each 13 points and it was touchdown difference that decided that Source Sorcerers and Hot Custard would play for the title. CO2 faced Galaxy in the third and fourth place play-off and Panthers and Martel-Dunn Recruits played for fifth and sixth.

Martel-Dunn had to settle for sixth place after Panthers won their game 8 – 4 and despite having lost to them the previous day, Galaxy secured third place with a 5 – 3 win over CO2.

The last game of the tournament was the mixed final between Source Sorcerers and Hot Custard who had played each other earlier in the day resulting in a 4 – 1 win for Source Sorcerers. In the final, it was Hot Custard who took an early lead but Source Sorcerers pulled it back and with less than a minute to go it was four touchdowns a piece and looking likely that it was going to drop-off. But in the dying seconds, Australian Tim Diack intercepted a Source pass and sprinted to the touchdown zone to give Hot Custard a 5 – 4 victory and the title.

As well as the main trophies, prizes were also presented to the players who had received the highest Most Valued Player nominations. Jersey’s Ruth Brooks who played for Galaxy took the ladies’ prize, Steve Teasdale from Martel-Dunn Recruits took the men’s and Sally Hamilton from Hot Custard took the mixed.

‘The players are the ones who really made the tournament the success that it was but we couldn’t have done it without the support of Culture & Leisure and the Channel Islands Stock Exchange,’ said Katrina.

‘We also need to thank the referees for their efforts, all but three of them were player refs and Derek Fisher, who came over for the weekend and who holds the highest level badge, was amazed that we had so many players who were willing to ref as well. Guernsey Touch has invested heavily in training players to become referees and so it’s great that our investment has paid off.’