Channel Islands cruise to 10-try Sweden victory
The Channel Islands rugby team won their first-ever match as they beat Sweden 66-28.The game at Guernsey's Footes Lane came a fortnight after Jersey had beaten their old rivals in their annual Siam Cup fixture.A combined side - with eight Guernsey and seven Jersey players in the starting line-up - proved too strong for the side 31st in World Rugby's international rankings as they scored 10 tries.The islanders wasted no time as they raced into a 14-0 lead after 11 minutes as Dom Rice and Guernsey compatriot Anthony Armstrong scored tries.Aron Qvarnstrom pulled a try back for the Swedes midway through the first period but Charlie Simmonds and Armstrong went over in quick succession to make it 28-7 after 26 minutes.Axel Kalling Smith and David Hill scored two tries in three minutes for the Swedes to reduce the gap to seven points before Simmonds and Ethan Smith scored for the islands in the final moments of the half as they led 40-21 at the break.
Guernsey hooker Tom Ceillam got the Channel Islands' seventh try two minutes after the restart before Joar Blanc got Sweden's fourth try five minutes later.Scott van Breda intercepted a 58th-minute pass and raced in from inside his own half for the eighth home try of the night - the former Worcester Warriors and Western Province player becoming the first Jersey-based scorer of the night. Dan Barnes had a ninth try disallowed soon after as the islands' forwards dominated the game, but Armstrong sealed his hat-trick moments later to make it 61-28 with eight minutes left.Jersey forward Euan Spencer forced his way over from close range in the final moments to wrap up the victory.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Romeo wins Dauphine stage three to take yellow jersey
Ivan Romeo rode solo to victory on stage three of the Criterium du Dauphine to claim the yellow leader's Movistar rider made a couple of attacks before going clear of a group of 10 riders with about 6km left in the 202.8km route from van der Poel led the chase group, but they had left it too late and Romeo crossed the line first in Charantonnay, near Lyon, some 14 seconds ahead of Harold Tejada, Louis Barre and Florian gave the the 21-year-old Spaniard his second senior professional win and meant he claimed the overall lead from Lidl-Trek's Jonathan Milan, who won stage two. "I don't believe it," said Romeo. "It was one of the toughest days of my life so far."The breakaway, it was so hard to get into it, and I wasn't feeling really good, so I waited to the last moment."I know in this kind of flat finish in a small break, I have good instinct, and that if they give me some seconds I can make it."I had this stage on my mind for a month. We've been doing altitude [training] at Sierra Nevada, working super hard with all the team, and they gave me this chance at the beginning of the week."Romeo was the under-23 time trial champion at last year's World Championships and Tuesday's success means he has a 17-second lead in the Dauphine's general classification standings heading into the time Tour de France and Giro d'Italia champion Tadej Pogacar is just over a minute back in ninth and will aim to close the gap as the eight-stage race heads into the mountains on Friday. Stage three results Ivan Romeo (Spa/Movistar) 4hrs 34mins 10secsHarold Tejada (Col/XDS Astana) +14secsLouis Barre (Fra/Intermarche-Wanty) Same timeFlorian Lipowitz (Ger/Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) Mathieu van der Poel (Ned/Alpecin-Deceuninck) +27secsAxel Laurance (Fra/Ineos Grenadiers) Same timeBrieuc Rolland (Fra/Groupama-FDJ)Julien Bernard (Fra/Lidl-Trek)Andreas Leknessund (Nor/Uno-X Mobility)Eddie Dunbar (Irl/Jayco-AlUla) +29secs
BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
Tigers defy 'doubters' with 'self-belief'
Michael Cheika nodded his head and shrugged his shoulders as he freely accepted Bath go into Saturday's Premiership Grand Final as overwhelming favourites against his Leicester Tigers it is not as if the Leicester head coach or his Tigers players will care."I know we will be doubted and probably for good reason from the results and the table," the 58-year-old Australian told BBC Radio Leicester."The important thing is that from inside the team and the group of people we have around, that we don't doubt and that we have belief."Tigers finished second in the table, 11 points adrift of a Bath side looking to complete a trophy treble, having already claimed the European Challenge Cup and Premiership Rugby Cup this were the first side to inflict a Premiership defeat on Tigers during Cheika's one-season reign, when they edged past the East Midlands club at Mattioli Woods Welford Road in September. They made it two from two this term in resounding fashion when they thumped Tigers 43-15 less than a month ago to emphasise their dominance in the league. Bath's head of rugby Johann van Graan has previously said the Somerset club are "comfortable with being favourites".Equally, Cheika says the role Leicester have been cast in and the widely predicted script suits his side."I can understand the predictions and why they make them, whether they are done from data or delivered by experts," the Tigers boss said."Come Saturday, we are going to be playing against a team that will be well fancied, who have dominated the season so far."We have strong self-belief internally and that will be something that will be really important. That is something we have built up over the season."But this is a good opportunity for us to use that belief in ourselves, because what that gives you is a hand in knowing what you will have to do."You will see in your mind when you close your eyes, what do I have to do in this game to get to where I want to go? It's not actually the end, where you have got the prize, but seeing what you need to do in order to get it."The weeks leading up to Tigers' attempt to secure a record-extending 12th Premiership title have been dominated by the impending mass exodus of star Leicester legends Ben Youngs and Dan Cole, as well as decorated former England team-mate Mike Brown, will retire at full-time on one-year stint at the helm will end too, in what is also a farewell match for captain Julian Montoya and two-time World Cup winning South African fly-half Handre the head coach is flying his wife and children over for the Twickenham decider, and playfully grimaces at the cost of doing so, he insists romanticising about leaving Leicester with the Premiership trophy in hand will not help their cause this week."We want to win for everyone," Cheika said."That title is no more important to them [the departing players] than it is for the other guys, or the guys that don't play, or the support team, or the crowd."It's a club, mate, and we are all part of the club."I don't think they would be upset with me for saying that. It's not about that, it's about us together."
BBC News
3 hours ago
- BBC News
Bulls boss set to give youngsters a chance in new league
Jersey Bulls manager Elliot Powell says his side's promotion to the Isthmian League will give him the chance to develop the island's best young beat Cobham 1-0 in the Combined Counties Premier South play-off final to earn promotion to Isthmian League South up to the fourth tier of non-league football is the highest the club has been since it was founded in 2019. "We've got a great pool of local talent - I think we used 38 players last season and 36 were based on the island at the start of the season," said Powell, who brought in former professionals Kurtis Guthrie and Paul McKay in February after they moved to Jersey."We know there's another generation of talented youngsters coming through and they're going to be really important for us in the next couple of years, and also probably in this first season as well where we'll need some fresh energy to kick-start us again after a short turnaround."There's a good five, six, maybe seven lads that will be knocking on the door for a place who will probably be playing at the Island Games for the Jersey FA side and get their opportunity to impress and maybe force their way in at the start of the season." Powell is realistic about the Bulls' chances of promotion next club does not pay its players, whereas many of the other sides in their league - which forms part of the eighth tier of the English football pyramid - will have substantial financial resources to put towards their squads."There's some big sides with some big budgets," Powell told BBC Radio Jersey."Whyteleafe will come up with us and we know they'll strengthen and they'll be looking for back-to-back promotions, and if not even higher than that."We know there'll be teams with huge financial power in our league, there's going to be teams that are physically a lot bigger than us."But we've shown that we can mix it up in various different ways, whether it's a physical game like Redhill or Fleet Town, we've shown we can compete, and when it's more of a footballing game like Cobham in the final, we came out on the right side of that as well."So we're really looking forward to it, it's going to test us in a number of different ways."But these are the opportunities that the club has been gearing up for and trying to provide for local players, and it's one we're really relishing and looking forward to taking come August."
