---

It was finals day in the weekend's rugby action at National Sports Centre, with the ladies Scully Cup and men's Nicol Shield finals taking place in fantastic conditions on Sunday afternoon.

Renegades 4, Police 1

First up was the Scully Cup final where Renegades were looking to retain their title, and also end another the season undefeated, a record that stretches back three seasons.

Their challengers were the Police ladies in what proved to be an absorbing contest. Renegades were at their imperious best in the first half, and it was their blinding pace that proved to be the difference as they ripped through their opponents in the first half.

Amy Harvey, Laura Haynes and Vanessa Turner all scored tries for the 'Gades in the first half as they led 3-0 at the break.

Police tightened up in the second half and had opportunities to pull themselves back into the game. One of these saw a penalty try awarded after an offside infringement had prevented a clear cut try scoring chance.

However, Renegades got another try from another of their speedsters, Jess Gilbert, to seal their third Scully Cup in a row on a 4-1 score-line.

Mariners 20, Teachers 12

The men's final saw league champions Teachers attempting to do the double against Mariners, who were looking to make it third time lucky after losing the previous two finals. Mariners traditional slow start saw them fall behind early in the game when David Porter chipped ahead for Harry Andrews to touch down for a fine try. Shauntino Simons slotted the conversion to give them a 7-0 lead after only a few minutes.

Mariners bounced back and worked their way deep into the Teachers '22, and thought they had pulled it back when Bongani Ndlovu went over, but the referee correctly deemed there to have been a double movement in the build up and awarded a penalty to Teachers.

Teachers applied more pressure and appeared to have the upper hand with possession and territory, but Rich Brown turned the ball over for Mariners to start off what must rate as one of the tries of the season.

Working the ball from their own '22, great work from Dustin Archibald and Johnny Peacock saw Scott Brown get the ball. His wonderful offload from the tackle found Lachie Armour who drew the tackle before feeding Rich Holden, and his side-step wrong-footed the defense as he raced through to score. Mark Pomeroy nailed the conversion to draw it 7-7 before half time, while Teachers suffered a double blow when the talismanic Bobby Hurdle had to go off with a hamstring injury.

The second half was another cracking 40 minutes of rugby, and it was Mariners who forged ahead when Pomeroy split the uprights with a lovely penalty after Teachers were penalized for coming in from the side.

Soniko Thomas then caused consternation in the Teachers back-line when his persistent chase forced a forward pass. From the resulting scrum, Holden was narrowly off target with a drop-goal effort. Teachers won a penalty near half way but the kick drifted agonizingly wide. A super kick from Pomeroy forced a lineout to Mariners close in to the Teachers line. Dave Rourke, who put in a mammoth performance, won the lineout and the forwards drove to the line for Gary Brady to ground the ball with a trademark try line flop.

Pomeroy impressively converted and then was on hand at the other end to touch back after Porter's fantastic break almost yielded a try. Mariners pushed back up the field, and Holden kicked a superb drop-goal to extend their lead. Teachers fought back however, and scored a wonderful try of their own.

They won the ball and passed through a number of hands, with Henry Paddison and James Dockeray prominent in the move, that set David McHugh free out wide to touch down in the corner.

The conversion was missed, and Mariners held out for a deserved 20-12 win, the first time they have annexed the Nicol Shield trophy in 15 years.[[In-content Ad]]

---