THE male arm of Jersey RFC may have seen their league title ambitions temporarily stall as a result of their key game at Winchester being postponed, but there was no stopping JRFC Women on Saturday.
The women in red overcame a strong challenge from visitors East Grinstead to claim their 11th win from 12 league outings this season, and move within touching distance of the National Championship 2 South East (South) title, and promotion.
The 41-21 win, in a contest that was a good deal closer than the scoreline suggests, left JRFC just four points – one more win – short of being mathematically certain of winning the league.
It may be a while yet before the deal is sealed, with a five-week break between games enforced by Hove’s withdrawal from the league, but for now the team are sitting pretty thanks to a 21-point lead over nearest rivals Seaford, the only side capable of overhauling them.
Head coach Simon Le Moignan was impressed by the visitors, and his team’s display in securing the win. He said: “I don’t think East Grinstead’s position does them justice, they were physical and had some good players.
“We’d watched the previous game against them and our plan was to drag them around the pitch and then create opportunities as they tired.
“Our fitness and conditioning came to the fore and we were able to cause a fair bit of damage in those closing stages.”
As the only team to have beaten the league leaders so far this season, East Grinstead had strengthened their squad through the recruitment of new players in recent weeks and started strongly.
A spell of pressure culminated in No.8 Issy Carrick going over for the opening try under the posts, and the JRFC players knew they were in a contest.
It may have taken almost all of the first quarter for the home side to mount a decent attack, but when it came, it was devastating as captain Katie de la Cloche showed power and pace to race down the left and finish the try with a dive at full stretch.
An almost unstoppable charge by Hannah Le Moignan put Jersey in position to take the lead, which they did as Laura Turpin glided through to the line.
Superb hands from Tina Davies and Kim Hacquoil set up the third try, finished well by Emily Hart and converted by Ashling Magner, but the visitors had some attacking threats in their backline as well. Full-back Ruby Wallis took advantage of some lax Jersey defence to claim her side’s second, leaving a deficit of just three points close to half-time. The lead was back to ten points by the time the teams headed to the dressing rooms thanks to Turpin’s second try, and the 24-14 scoreline remained throughout an attritional third quarter.
Jersey ambitions were most seriously threatened just after the hour mark, soon after losing Davies to the sin-bin as the result of a high tackle. Carrick scored a second try for the visitors, and suddenly it was a three-point game with 19 minutes to play.
To their credit the hosts went up a gear and carved out an important score while still down to 14, with a strong run by Willow Le Luan sparking a chance for Turpin to get over for a third try.
Three became four for the Jersey fly-half soon afterwards as she went over again to crown a silky attack, and in the dying stages De La Cloche scored her second try to ice the cake.
The coach was delighted with the performance by his side.
“I thought ‘Turps’ [Laura Turpin] was great, she has stepped in at fly-half and makes a really great combination at half-back with Ashling Magner,” he said.
“There’s was no drop-off from the outside backs, and the forwards created a great platform.
“Kerry Bisson-Mercury was our forward of the match, she was just trucking it up strongly and always getting over the gain-line.”
The JRFC Women will hope to get the win they need for the title when they entertain Beckenham on Saturday 6 April, before completing their league season away to Sutton and Epsom the following Saturday.
Jersey RFC Women: [1-15]: Nicole Rodrigues-Ferreira, Hannah Le Moignan, Kirsten Slatter, Kim Vallance, Helen Papworth, Amber Hopwood, Katie de la Cloche (c), Kerry Bisson-Mercury; Ashling Magner (vc), Laura Turpin; Tina Davies, Emily Hart, Bethan Hughes, Lisa Saout; Kim Hacquoil. Replacements: Beth Rosser, Lauren Halliwell, Willow Le Luan, Georgina Ruellan
