Gale force wind affects rugby play

League action returned on Sunday with both the ladies and men’s fixtures going ahead despite the blustery conditions. 

Given the weather, one would have thought free flowing and high scoring rugby would be at a premium but that was not the case. 

Ladies

Teachers 3, Mariners 2

The ladies kicked things off with Teachers managing to outscore Mariners 3 to 2. 

Katie Wright grabbed yet another brace and Rachel MacLoughlin added a third. 

Gina Newson scored both Mariners tries. 

Renegades 4, Police 0

In the other match, Renegades continued their impressive unbeaten run and made 10 wins out of 10 as they outgunned the Police 4 to 0. 

Melanie Duchaine opened the scoring following up on a good break by Vanessa Turner. 

Turner herself added the next two scores before Laura Haynes junked her way over the line for the fourth. 

The Police ladies almost scored a well-deserved consolation after a fine 50-yard run from Eimear Holohan, side stepping two Renegades before bursting for the line only to be caught by a last ditch touch from Haynes.

Men

Teachers 19, Mariners 14

The men’s fixtures were also heavily affected by the weather, with the wind coming right off the North Shore, all sides knew that they would be defending their own try line resolutely for one half and attacking the other. 

In the first game, Teachers maintained their lead at the top of the table by virtue of a 19-14 win over Mariners. 

Attacking with the wind in the first half, Teachers knocked on the Mariner’s line for 40 minutes and were rewarded by tries though Scott Coban, Ian Morrison and Chris Naylor. 

Shautino Simmons and Greg Fraser each had a conversion. 

With the wind at their backs, Mariners dominated the second half.

Scott Brown and Kris Furtbert scored tries, which were converted by Lachie Armour. 

Mariners will be ruing missed opportunities, particularly the two occasions where a player lost the ball whilst in the motion of scoring.Police

Police 41, Renegades 10

The win for Teachers put the pressure on Police in their match against Renegades. 

Throughout the season, Renegades have had the upper hand over the boys in blue, however the injury ravaged black and whites would fall short on this occasion. 

Renegades started brightly and raced into a 10-0 lead thanks to a try from prop and Captain Conor McGlynn, which was converted by Neill MacGuiness, who also added a penalty. 

This was to be the end of the scoring for Renegades as Police took control of the game and scored 41 unanswered points. 

Durnferd Davis scored a hat-trick of tries, as Lambert Schreuder added two scores and Tommy Edwards and Neville Zuill added one each. 

Dave Pringle added three conversions. 

On a day when the conditions would be the main talking point, credit should be given to all teams for putting on an impressive display of rugby. 

This week’s actions sees the ladies action kick off at noon with Mariners verus Police followed by Renegades versus Teachers. 

In the men’s action, Police take on Mariners at 2pm and Renegades take on Teachers at 3:30pm. 

With wins for Police and Teachers, the league title looks like going down to the last game, which sees Police take on Teachers with the victors likely to claim the league.