January 30, 2013 at 5:54 p.m.
Renegades lift women's crown
Women
Mariners 12, Police 4
Mariners ladies kicked off the day with an impressive 12-4 win over the Police, though in they only led 3-0 at the break as Police were very much keeping it a tight affair.
Tries from Amanda Maenpaa, Laryssa Yuel and Abbey MacPherson had Mariners in front. Both sides created some impressive scores in the second half, although unfortunately for the Police ladies more were against them than for them.
MacPherson added four tries, Maenpaa added two for her hattrick, Yuel grabbed her second and Vanessa Toet and Amy Wolfinger both scored one for the ladies in green. Impressive speedster Julia Mansfield scored a hattrick for the Police ladies, after Saphia Tonkin had scored their only other try.
Renegades 12, Teachers 2
Renegades secured another league title when they overcame Teachers by 12-2 in torrential rain, as conditions at National Sports Centre deteriorated. It was another emphatic performance from the truly deserving champions, and the writing was on the wall after pushing ahead 5-0 at half time.
Their tries came from Laura Haynes (2), Karen Peckett, Gemma O'Brien and Melissa Field. Things didn't improve in the second half weather-wise, but the two sides adjusted and played some fine rugby. Field scored two more tries, Ruth Leston added two, with Nicola Jones, Amy Harvey and Sue Rebello adding one apiece for the dominant 'Gades. Rachel McLoughlin and Marie-Pierre Beaudoin scored the replies for the Teachers.
Men
Mariners 22, Police 13
The first men's match pitted Mariners against Police as both teams fielded without a number of injured players. Mariners got off to the worst possible start as Durnferd Davis, once again putting in a barnstorming performance, ran a beautiful line to ghost through the static defense within two minutes of the kick-off. Mariners responded well and Mark Pomeroy slotted a penalty after an infringement close to the try line. Mariners came more and more into the game and Gary Brady popped out of contact to his onrushing captain Rich Brown who powered through for an unstoppable try. Pomeroy converted to leave the Mariners 10-5 to the good. Any ideas that Police would lie down were dispelled when, after more Mariners pressure, Police forced a turnover to take the ball the length of the field with Adam Holdt touching down after a kick through, leaving it 10-10 at the half.
The second half was again tight, and despite Mariners having a lot of possession and territory, Police repelled every attack. Eventually, a wonderfully worked rolling maul ended with Brown again touching down. Pomeroy missed the conversion and the men in green must have been sweating when Mike Kane atoned for his two earlier missed kicks to convert a penalty, leaving it 15-13 as time wound down. The last score of the match duly arrived for Mariners, borne out of a superb try created by two of their star players. Alun Thomas made the initial break with another mazy run, and his offload was expertly gathered by Rich Holden who evaded a number of tackles to score under the posts. Pomeroy converted, and though they pushed for a bonus point fourth try, the game ended 22-13 to Mariners.
Teachers 10, Renegades 5
The last game of the day really was trench warfare as both teams attempted to adapt to the awful weather conditions. With so much at stake, neither side gave an inch as they both hammered away at each other. The weather contributed to making it a difficult first half to play in, with a number of knock-ons keeping the game tight. It was going to take something special to break the deadlock, and Scott Cobon provided it for Teachers when he brilliantly charged down an attempted clearance to dive on the ball over the line. The conversion was missed and the teams went in with Teachers hanging on to a narrow 5-0 lead.
As the rain stopped and the sun threatened to show it's face, both teams began to spin the ball wide more often and contributed to an exciting second half. Both sides were creating space but for a while it looked like neither would add to the score. Finally, Renegades managed to breach the highly impressive Teachers defense when a quick penalty and quick ruck ball sent Darragh O'Donoghue over in the corner.
The conversion was missed but it was game on. Both sides pressed but the winning score came from a moment of magic produced by Bobby Hurdle. He broke through a number of tackles with a magnificent run, and though he was tackled short of the line, the ball was quickly recycled to Chris Naylor who dove over to the delight of the Teachers' crowd. A missed conversion left the final score 10-5, and Teachers were visibly ecstatic with the triumph. Though still mathematically possible for Renegades to catch them, it is highly unlikely.
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