January 30, 2013 at 5:54 p.m.
Rugby / Paul Marsden Memorial Game
Police pull off great second half comeback
Ladies
Mariners 3, Police 2
First off was the ladies match between Mariners and Police, and it was a close and exciting encounter. Police were looking to get their first win over the Mariners of the season and came in to the game confident after a superb draw with the Rest select side the previous weekend.
By the end though, it was the Mariners' girls who came away with the spoils with tries from Chantal Brown with two, and Abbey MacPherson grabbing the other one.
Liz Copeland and Tammy Hall scored for the Police who went down by a score-line 3-2 in the end.
Renegades 2, Teachers 0
The ladies of Renegades came up against a Teachers' side still looking for their first win of the season in the next match.
Teachers played exceptionally well and went in at half time with the score tied at 0-0 against the unbeaten 'Gades ladies.
Renegades did eventually break through though, with tries from Melissa Field and Jess Gilbert securing a 2-0 win that all but assured them of their third successive league title.
Men
Police 15, Mariners 11
The next game up was the clash of the men from Police and Mariners.
It was a fantastic, and typically bruising, dual in what also doubled as the Paul Marsden Memorial game.
Police opened brightly and almost went ahead as they crossed the line early, only for it to be judged that the ball was held up. Mariners came back down the pitch, and strong pressure in the forwards yielded two penalties, that Mark Pomeroy easily dispatched between the posts.
The men in green were in the ascendency at this point, and after working the ball through a number of phases, spun it back across the pitch to Steve Husbands to score a try. The conversion was missed, but Mariners led 11-0 at the break.
Some strong words must have spoken in the Police camp as they were very fired up from the restart. They worked the way down the pitch and some Mariners indiscipline gave away a penalty that Tom Edwards made no mistake from.
From the resultant kick off, Police worked the ball through the center, David Pringle making a barnstorming run before offloading to Paul Davis to score beside the posts.
Edwards converted and it was game on. Mariners lost Alun Thomas and Rob Brown to injury which disrupted their rhythm.
Police were dominating at this point and more great work freed Edwards to go over in the corner to put Police in front for the first time.
Mariners came back strongly in the last five minutes, and thought they'd snatched it after Husbands had embarked on a brilliant run to touch down in the corner, though it was ruled to be in touch by the officials as Police held on for a 15-11 triumph.
Teachers 19, Renegades 8
The last match was Teachers against Renegades in another tightly contested game, and Teachers were looking to re-establish their lead at the top of the table over Police.
The first half was probably slightly shaded by Renegades. Teachers were first on the board though with a Greg Fraser penalty. Renegades thought they had taken the lead when Darragh O'Donoghue crossed the line in the corner, but the officials ruled that the ball was held up. O'Donoghue did pull them level though as he converted a penalty after an offside infringement. It stayed 3-3 until half-time.
Teachers began the second half stronger, and good work was rewarded with a couple of penalties.
Fraser nailed both, the first being an exceptional kick from wide on the right. Renegades hit back though, and Tom Healy looped around the outside to go over in the corner, with the conversion attempt just falling short.
Fraser kicked his fourth penalty of the day to move Teachers 12-8 ahead. Shortly after, Conor McGlynn was sinbinned for persistent infringements. Teachers broke through after good work from Chris Naylor and Henry Paddison, and eventually James Dockeray managed to force his way over the line.
Fraser made no mistake with the conversion as Teachers ran out 19-8 winners in the end.[[In-content Ad]]
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