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Rugby action recommenced on Sunday at National Stadium. The Renegades ladies team and the Teachers men both knew that they would regain their league titles with one round left if they could get favourable results in their match-ups, and there was plenty of excitement despite the extremely difficult conditions.

Ladies

Mariners 0, Renegades 0

Up first was the Renegades ladies who knew anything other than a defeat against nearest rivals Mariners would see them retain the league title for the third consecutive year. The wind clearly disrupted both sides, but they also played excellent defense to nullify the numerous threats on each side. Both sides had their chances but neither could breach the deadlock, as the game petered out to a 0-0 draw. This assured the 'Gades ladies of yet another title, although their quest for a perfect season came unstuck against the resilient Mariners.

Police 3, Teachers 0

Police ladies were looking to continue their recent good run against the Teachers in the second ladies match-up. Conditions had deteriorated rapidly as the game began, with driving rain making it very tough on both sides. Police adapted better to the conditions, and in the end ran out comfortable 3-0 winners over their gallant opponents. The try scorers were Saphia Tonkin, Kate Brown and Tammy Hall.

Men

Renegades 12, Mariners 5

The second match was between the men's sides of Renegades and Mariners. Mariners were very slow to start, and their concentration seemed to be affected by the early loss of winger Kory Logan with a fracture to his lower leg. Renegades were dominating the forward collisions and eventually the dominance paid dividends. The ball came out to Ian Henderson, who brilliantly sidestepped the defense to pass to Greg Garside to score the game's first try. A superb turnover in midfield yielded a second try, with Tom Healy darting clear after a great counter-attack. Darragh O'Donoghue converted. Mariners finally woke up and began to build phases. Deep inside their opponents '22, the defense was sucked in and the ball spun wide for Soniko Thomas to score in the corner. The conversion was missed to leave Renegades 12-5 to the good at half-time.

The second half was a very scrappy affair, but also a hugely physical battle up front. Both sets of forwards battered each other constantly, while there was numerous handling errors resulting in a lot of scrums. Both teams had solid possession and territory to create scoring chances, but both held firm to make sure there would be no addition to the score board in the second half. Renegades ran out 12-5 winners.

Teachers 26, Police 15

The final game of the day was the crucial top of the table clash between Police and Teachers in the men's division. Teachers knew that a win would guarantee them back-to-back league titles and were fired up from the start. They went ahead through a Greg Fraser penalty after Police had been caught offside. They extended the lead when some fine play saw the ball go through a number of hands to Andrew Males lurking on the wing, and he made no mistake to score the try. Police got on the scoreboard with a penalty from Tommy Edwards to reduce the deficit, but it was short-lived. The very impressive Chris Naylor made a superb break and his wonderful dummy sent Shauntino Simons clear to score, converted by Fraser. Paul Davis was then harshly sent to the sin bin for what appeared to be going off his feet at a ruck. Just before half-time, Police had a penalty overturned in front of their own posts, and Fraser made no mistake to leave Teachers leading 18-3 at half-time.

Police got back into it early in the second half, as David Pringle raced through for a try after a brilliant break from Edwards. Pringle converted to close the gap further. Teachers responded as true champions do, and another fine move from the back-line set Simons free to score his second of the day. Fraser missed the difficult conversion, but made no mistake with his third penalty shortly after. From the kick off, Police scored what is probably the try of the season. They won the kick with a fantastic take, and then produced some scintillating interplay, keeping the ball alive and offloading out of a number of tackles before Pringle got over for his second try. The conversion was missed, and Teachers deservedly captured the league for the second year in a row on a final score of 26-15.

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