Fareham Heathens were well beaten but not disheartened during their trip to Guernsey

Travelling with the majority of their first-team squad, they went down 52-15, leaking eight tries to the Channel Islanders in the Hampshire Division 1 clash.

Selecting the side was a headache for captain Paul Charlson who, alongside seven other players, was forced to play out of position.

It showed as Heathens could not prevent the quick Guernsey runners from penetrating the line.

Third team hooker Richard Hall played in the centre, second row Wayne Barugh moved to wing, Andy Hopper made room for Charlson at scrum-half, switching himself to fly-half.

Meanwhile Mark Steward moved across in the front row to prop and Mark Beaudro, also a prop, wore number six.

Charlson admitted before travelling that it would be a damage-limitation exercise, given the fact the club were considering cancelling the fixture on Wednesday due to a lack of numbers.

However, the Heathens skipper took considerable heart from the performance his side produced, especially in the forwards, as the make-shift backs were cruelly exposed by the rampant green and whites; seven of their eight tries coming from outside centre and wider.

But for a miserable day for Hopper, who missed six of his seven shots at goal, the scoreline could have been narrower.

A healthy home support enjoyed the way wingers Steve Burt and Jim Elliott scythed through for two first-half scores each, pushing the hosts into a 33-3 interval lead.

But Heathens came out strongly for the second period, cutting the arrears through Hopper's clearance kick which was blocked, the loose ball being grabbed for a score.

Three more tries from Guernsey put the game beyond doubt at 52-10 before the visitors upped their game and kept the ball tight - a style of play they should have adopted throughout given the weakness of the Guernsey pack.

Hopper was on hand at the base of a driving maul to touch down and they came close to scoring again late on but faced some decisive tackling on the Guernsey line.

Charlson was happy with his team's effort in adversity. "I can take nothing away from the lads here today. They have given me everything," he said.

"We came over here with a scratch team and I was hoping to keep it within 60 points and we did just that.

"It was inevitable we were going to lose with so many out of position but we've scored 15 points ourselves and, when we put them under pressure, they cracked.

"Their forwards were average, just their backs were quick and cut us up out wide. They will be in for a big shock when they come over to Fareham next year."