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The rugby season resumed on Saturday with the annual Police Duckett Memorial games being played at Police Field.

A very large crowd turned out to witness some fine rugby with Police taking on a Rest of Bermuda select side in first and second team matches in both men's and women's rugby.

Rest 6, Police 4

The first match saw the ladies second team contest, and the Rest prevailed in a tight affair by six tries to four. Melanie Duchaine, Michelle MacCaull, Nicole Brennan, Nicola Jones, Christine Richards and Nancy Catellier scored for the Rest, while Katie Partington (2), Gemma O'Brien and Ashley Leeson got on the scoresheet for the Police.

Police v Rest

The men's second team was an equally tight match, with the Police men notching the first win of the day for the home side by a try.

It was a see-saw battle that Police deserved in the end, but only marginally. Rob Steinoff and Mike Kane played well for the Police, as did Anthony Cupidore and Riann Visser for the Rest. The score for this game was unavailable.

Rest 8, Police 1

The ladies first team game saw a very strong and talented Rest side face off against a constantly improving Police side. There was very little the Police ladies could do as the Rest used their superb pace effectively. The Renegades trio of Laura Haynes, Amy Harvey and Melissa Field, as well as Mariners Amanda Swan, caused numerous problems for the Police and they failed to cope sufficiently.

Harvey (3), Ruth Boo Leston (2), Field, Haynes and Swan all scored for the Rest in an impressive team performance. Lauren Wilson scored the lone response for the Police as the Rest ran out comfortable 8-1 winners.

Police 29, Rest 9

The last game of the day was the men's first team match, and the Police players were clearly fired up for it. Straight from the kick off, the big hits were coming in from both sides, with a few late hits also adding spice to the game, while also keeping referee Dennis Cherry busy.

Police drew first blood when captain Jamie Webb, leading by example in his last match before leaving Bermuda, scored in the corner to edge Police ahead.

David Pringle slotted a magnificent conversion and Police led 7-0.

The Rest were awoken by this early score and started to come into the game more, with Bobby Hurdle and Pete Dunkley fantastic up front. Both players put in big tackles and turned over quite a bit of ball.

Despite having Dunkley sent to the sin-bin, the Rest defended bravely to keep the Police at bay.

Eventually, the pressure from the Rest forwards began to yield dividends as they forced Police into conceding a number of kickable penalties. Rich Holden slotted three before the half as the Rest went in leading 9-7.

Whatever was said at half-time had the desired effect on the Police players as they came out with all guns blazing, playing at an intensity that the lackluster Rest side failed to cope with.

Paul Davis was first to score when he dove over from the base of a ruck. He was sin-binned shortly afterwards but Police were still in the ascendancy.

Mark Evans then broke through some very poor tackling to score under the posts, and with Tom Edwards nailing the conversion, Police were ahead 19-7.

Jonathan Cassidy then read the play brilliantly to intercept a wayward pass to scamper in for Police's fourth try.

The scoring wasn't finished however, as John Jackson finally got in for a try after a number of other chances had evaded him, to seal a comprehensive and fully deserved 29-9 victory for the Police.

Weekend action

This weekend sees a return to league action as Renegades and Teachers face off in the early games, while the Police will be hoping to build on their fantastic performance last weekend when they play Mariners, with the men's encounter being the Marsden Memorial game. Matches this weekend will be played at the National Centre.[[In-content Ad]]

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