“Unfortunately, the experience and depth of the England side eventually shone through,” said team manager Steve Foster.
“Having said that, I’m incredibly proud of our performance. We have confirmed that Jersey is once again the second best team in the UK, a wonderful result given the restricted numbers we have available and our insular position. It has been a privilege to be the team manager and I am proud of the way we conducted ourselves both on and off the terrain.”
The Home Nations event involves a marathon schedule of two days of play with 192 matches between triples teams representing the four ‘nations’.
Pictured: It’s the fourth consecutive year Jersey have been runners-up to England, in a tournament that also incudes Scotland and Wales.
Jersey suffered a real setback in their first match going down to a 6-2 defeat by England. They bounced back with victories against Scotland (6-2) and Wales (5-3) but the championship was won and lost in Jersey’s second game against England which ended in a disastrous 8-nil scoreline. Further wins against Scotland (5-3) and Wales (6-2) were scant consolation.
Day 2 started with another match against England and the Island team knew they had to win it convincingly to stand any chance of pulling off an overall victory, but despite a better performance they went down to a 5-3 defeat (a result that was repeated in the afternoon session) and from then onwards it was all about seeing off the challenge of Wales who came back strongly as the day wore on. Jersey’s final match was against Wales but despite losing 5-3 The Islanders had enough points in the bag to claim the runners-up spot.
Overall England won 63 games. Jersey and Wales were tied on 45 wins each but Jersey had a much better points difference (plus 3 compared to Wales’ minus 135) while Scotland finished on 39 wins.
Pictured: flying the flag, Jersey trio Geoffroy Buffetrille, Neil Selby and Laurent Pellaton won nine of their 12 games.
The top Jersey trio received an award for their achievement. They were the Island number one seeds, Geoffroy Buffetrille, Neil Selby and Laurent Pellaton who won nine of their 12 games.
Another Jersey trio also recorded nine wins, Matt Pinel, James Rondel and John Lane.