January 30, 2013 at 5:54 p.m.
Teachers, 'Gades win two
Women's league
Mariners 4, Renegades 11
The opening contest saw the Mariners ladies against Renegades in a top of the table clash, as both sides entered the match undefeated in the league. Renegades continued their superb recent form and opened the brighter, quickly opening a 3-0 lead. Melissa Field and Laura Haynes were responsible for the tries as their pace out wide caught the Mariners rearguard out.
Mariners responded with a well worked individual try from the impressive Chantal Brown and an Amanda Maenpaa score, but Renegades increased their lead to 5-2 at the half with scores from Sue Rebello and Ruth Boo Leston. With the ladies in green finding it difficult to deal with the Renegades pace, they shipped more tries early in the second half.
Rebello notched three more tries, adding to another try for each of Haynes, Field and Leston. Laryssa Yuel grabbed a brace for the Mariners but it wasn't going to be enough to stop the Renegades juggernaut on this occasion.
The final score was 11-4 to the Renegades.
Teachers 11, Police 3
The second ladies match pitted Teachers against Police.
The Police were looking to bounce back from last week's result but came up against a Teachers side beginning to find form. Teachers took advantage of some poor defending in the first half as they ran up an 8-2 lead.
Jennifer Crawford's try was one of the highlights as she threw a sublime dummy pass to create a gap in the middle that she exploited.
She would finish the game with three, while Joanna Thievèrge (4), Kim Spencer (2), Jessica Cote (2), Marie-Pierre Beaudoin and Sarah Arthur all added scores as they ran out convincing 13-3 victors.
Police had tries from Julia Mansfield, Sophia Tonkin and Kerri Heigham, and while they defended quite well in the second half, they know they have more work to do to shore up the defence.
Men's league
Mariners 10, Renegades 22
The first men's match was Mariners against Renegades, as they both looked to keep pace with leaders Teachers.
In what was a physical battle, the first half was very tight as both teams had their chances and enjoyed decent periods of possession.
It was Mariners who made the breakthrough when Steve Husbands burst past the defene after good work by the forwards. Tom Kelly barged his way over the line to pull the sides level, Neil MacGuinness confidently stroking over the conversion.
The same player kicked a penalty just before the half to tie up the game at 10-10 after Sinisa Erceg had scored in the corner for the men in green after some superb interplay.
Renegades upped their rucking in the second half and applied pressure in every ruck.
Their early possession told when Ian Henderson, who had a fantastic game kicking tactically from hand, burst through some weak tackling to score under the posts.
MacGuinness again converted to put Renegades ahead again, and the same player scored in the corner when he chased Jay Roobottom's excellent chip over the top.
They chased the bonus point to no avail, Mariner's Bongani Ndlovu making two incredible try saving tackles in either corner as the game drew to a close. The final score was 22-10 in favour of the 'Gades.
Police 10, Teachers 24
Police were looking to get their season on track against table toppers Teachers in the last match, and they certainly played the better rugby in an uncompromising first half.
Their new-look back line was outstanding, David Pringle and Durnferd Davies in particular causing havoc with their lines of running.
Police pushed ahead when Tom Edwards kept up his recent fine form with a try, but Teachers replied with a nice try from winger Greg Fraser as their pack began to get an edge.
With the score delicately poised at 5-5 at half-time, it was shaping up to be an exciting second half.
Teachers certainly looked the better side in the first half, as they managed to stifle the amount of ball the Police backline saw. Henry Paddison scored in the corner for Teachers and Shauntino Simons brilliantly nailed the conversion.
Police refused to lie down though, and Warren Bundy piled over after great work from the forwards to pull it back to 12-10 with about 10 minutes to go.
A high kick from Chris Way was misread at the back, and Way collected to score under the posts. Teachers pushed on, looking to get a fourth try, but the Police defence was magnificent.
At the death however, Bobby Hurdle dived over with Chris Naylor converting to give Teachers a 24-10 victory and leave them top of the table.
This weekend sees a break in league action for a 7's tournament, with the national team competing with the four clubs as they prepare for the Caribbean championships in Bahamas the following weekend. Action starts around 12 on Saturday in Malabar.
Gary Brady is the public relations officer for the Bermuda Rugby Football Union.
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