January 30, 2013 at 5:54 p.m.
'Gades blank Cops
They crushed Police 18-0 on Sunday while Teachers maintained their early season momentum with a comfortable 21-0 win over struggling Mariners.
Both Police and Renegades had a host of injury concerns and absences going into Sunday's match but it was the champions that coped better.
And it was the boot of Irishman Darragh O'Donoghue, out of position at outhalf, that was once again the inspiration for the victory.
O'Donoghue opened the scoring with a well-struck penalty after 10 minutes following sustained pressure in the Police 22.
James Holburn, playing at scrumhalf, took a quick tap from almost exactly the same spot five minutes later, and ran through a transparent Police pack to touch down for the first try of the afternoon.
O'Donoghue kicked the extras as blue fingers were still being pointed.
Renegades began to move the ball with confidence at every opportunity andwere unlucky not to score on a number of occasions.
Greg Garside glided down the right-wing to finish off a flowing move following another Holburn break and skilful handling from Mike Williams and Conor McGlynn.
O'Donoghue kicked the conversion for the final points of the game just before half-time.
A rousing speech from player-coach Ken O'Shea during the break, and the introduction of scrum-half Gareth Davies put new life into the Police team.
They came close to getting back into the match on more than one occasion with Jonathan Cassidy actually crossing the line, only for the try to be ruled out.
In the day's other game, the post Halloween hangovers, resulted in a slow start.
But when the cobwebs had been blown away it was Teachers that handed luckless Mariners a rugby lesson.
A wonderful back move with good fast straight running resulted in Charlie 'Pony' Walker-Smith running over for the first try in the opening period.
Teachers then dominated play with good back moves being created by strong rucking and mauling in the pack.
Their forwards increased the pressure at set-pieces and breakdowns after the half, and this led to them powering to victory with tries by Charlie (Pony) Walker-Smith, Chris Way and Kurt Leibel.[[In-content Ad]]
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