For the first time ever the Men’s and Ladies Inter-Insulars were held on the same weekend and at the same venue. La Moye Golf Club played host to the inaugural event last weekend.

The opening foursomes matches were played on Saturday morning in very hot and humid conditions. The Ladies playing from the 1st tee, made a flying start with the lead pairing of Hannah Scriven & Anabelle Lucas-Villar (both RJ) completing a 6&5 victory. This laid the foundations for an excellent morning with Jersey undefeated and leading 4 – 1 going into lunch.

Historically foursomes is not the favoured format of the Jersey Men’s team where, more often than not, they have struggled. But not this year! Inspired by Matthew Parman (RJ) & Jeremy Phillip’s (LM) 7&6 defeat of the ‘Two Danny’s (Bisson & Blondel) – they were four under gross when they finished – Jersey went into lunch 5 nil. Only once before have Jersey men inflicted a whitewash on their Sarnian counterparts.

In the afternoon fourballs, the Ladies continued where they left off in the morning and dominated the fourball better ball matches. With only one defeat in the afternoon, Jersey finished the day 8 – 2 only requiring two points from Sunday’s singles matches to retain the trophy and two and a half points for an outright win.

On the other side of the golf course, the men were also enjoying similar fortunes. Captain Chris Young mixed up his pairings for the afternoon fourballs but testament to the strength and depth of his team, they controlled the afternoon matches winning them 4 – 1. Josh Ozard (RJ) & Andy Clarke (LM) were the only pairing to lose (1 down) but the standard of golf was incredible – 14 birdies and an eagle in their match!

Jersey would go into the singles series of matches 9 – 1 requiring just one and a half points to regain the trophy lost in Guernsey last year. Among the senior players and officials, no one could recall Jersey having such a commanding lead in the history of the men’s match after the first day. One thing was certain, however; Guernsey would come out fighting on Sunday.

A much cooler morning welcomed the players on Sunday and there was a little drizzle in the air for the first hour of play. As expected, both Guernsey teams started strongly and with both matches having 6 games (out of a total of 10) on the course Guernsey were up in virtually all of them, causing both Jersey Team Captains, Young and Nicola Mollin, an anxious time.

However, as the matches approached the turn, the Jersey players rallied and started to turn their games around. The first point for Jersey was courtesy of Helen Lagadu’s 7&6 win in the first match. Hannah Scriven gained Jersey’s second point following her 5&4 victory. Jersey had retained the Ladies trophy at least.

Richard Ramskill earned the third point for Jersey and the first for the men with a 4&3 defeat of Guernsey’s Junior Champion Jayden Tucknott. The first two matches had already gone Guernsey’s way, so Richard’s point was welcome. Charlie Kiberd then sealed victory for Jersey with a 5&4 defeat over Jamie Blondel. Of the remaining seven matches, Guernsey only managed two more wins meaning a 15 – 5 win for Jersey.

In the Ladies match Julie Frank, receiving a late call up for the injured Juanita Adlington, had the honour of sealing the outright win for the Ladies with her halved match. The Ladies strength continued, winning the singles matches 7.5 – 2.5 for a 15.5 – 4.5 total.

At the prize presentation tribute was paid to all the players for the spirit in which the matches were played and the general feeling was that the first ever combined inter-insular weekend was deemed a success.

In addition to the presentation of the two trophies and individual mementos, with Haydn Taylor from match sponsor Ravenscroft presenting, the two individual ‘Most Valuable Player’ trophies were awarded. The two winners of these awards are chosen by the respective Jersey and Guernsey Captains in a joint decision.

The Ladies award, the Joan Bichard Trophy, was awarded to Royal Jersey’s Hannah Scriven. Hannah had an outstanding weekend winning all three of her matches and was an infectious, and entertaining, personality in the team room.

The Roy Mahy Trophy was awarded to Jersey’s Charlie Kiberd. Charlie also won all three of his matches. Charlie had not been selected for some years having taken some time away from golf, but returned this year and played some fabulous golf throughout the weekend.