January 30, 2013 at 5:54 p.m.
Teachers honour Hurdle with wins
The curtain raiser saw a veteran Teachers 2nd XV take on a hodge-podge Rest 2nd XV. It could have been a 1980's time warp with the Reds fielding veterans Pat McHugh, Michael Montgomery, Brian Desmond and Denton's older brother Derek Hurdle. Proving the point that old age and treachery will over come youth and exuberance the Teachers 2nd XV ran out deserved 35-0 victors.
Teachers Ladies, still smarting from falling short of the league championship on points' difference, showed determination against the pick of the Rest. Obviously highly motivated and well coached by Alvin Harvey, the Red and Blacks shellacked a disjointed and disappointing Rest side- 10 to 1. Joanna Thivierge led all scorers with four touch downs. Katy Wright (three) Sarah McHugh-Wheddon (two) and Jenny Crawford (one), ably supported Thivierge. The enthusiasm and the pure enjoyment displayed by the fairer sex in a historically male dominated game is infectious.
Men's match
The large crowd down at Nationals was treated to a real barnburner of a Denton Hurdle Memorial.
As expected Teachers started the game fired up and dominated the opening exchanges. The advantage was cashed in on by a cheeky Chris Naylor try, who converted to give an early 7-0 lead.
Further pressure from Teachers after a good passage of forwards play resulted in the Rest team killing the ball and giving the chance to Naylor to extend the lead with a penalty. Teachers failed to capitalize on their pressure when the easy kick was missed.
Teachers poured unrelentingly forward and displayed some nice handling in the backs but could not penetrate a stout Rest defense lead by centres Rich Brown and Andy Boyce. When the ball was turned over in the contact area by a pillaging Mike Williams, the Rest and Police star standoff Andrew Flint maintained his amazing strike rate of at least one try per game by outpacing the desperate Reds covering defence to score against the run of play. Flint missed the conversion, closing the gap to 7-5.
Teachers bounced back with arguably some of their best rugby of the year. Several passages of play saw good continuity between forwards and backs and resulted in Devrae Noel-Simmons powering over in the corner. Naylor missed the conversion taking the score to 12-5 at the half.
The second half started off at a frenetic pace with the ball being thrown about with gay abandon. Neither side could press home their attack. Several large tackles by Warren Clifford set the tone for Teachers and when inspirational Teachers captain Dave Porter took a quick tap penalty -he caught the Rest off guard. He was brought down short of the line by Greg Garside but managed to off load to a supporting Kevin Walsh to extend the lead to 17-5. Naylor embarrassingly missed an easy conversion in front of the post which would have put the game beyond reach.
Teachers were never going to maintain their intensity for the entire game and with a tenuous 12 point lead, not surprisingly went off the boil. This opened the door for the more robust Rest forwards to gain the ascendancy. Surging runs by Mariner Jackson and Jamie Billings created a solid attacking platform for the Rest.
Quick hands released Steven Husbands down the touch line and he finished off the fine solo effort with a wonderful run. The conversion was missed and the score closed to 17-10.
The ensuing kick-off saw the powerful David Rorke drive deep into a flagging Teachers pack. A few pick and drives by fellow Mariners' Bongani Ndlovu and Gary Brady put the Rest deep into Teachers territory.
With Teachers reeling on the ropes, a quick one two by Nick Suprina and Rest captain Peter Dunkley saw the hard work pay off with Dunkley scoring near the sticks.
Flint converted and a game that once appeared to be a Teachers runaway was even at 17 -17 with ten tense minutes remaining.
The stage was set for an exciting finish. A timely substitution saw the ageless wonder, Patrick Cooper come in at prop for the Reds. An outstanding player in his day -Cooper's presence lifted a tired Teachers pack that fought tooth and nail into their oppositions' half.
From a resultant scrum on the Rest's 22, Teachers No 8 Jean-Francois Mauves made an excellent blind side break before releasing the mercurial David Porter into space. To the jubilant cheers of the animated crowd, Porter sealed victory by diving into the corner for a late try.
The final whistle saw the Teachers rejoicing in a highly entertaining and unforgettable Denton Hurdle Memorial 22-17 win.
A proud Derek Hurdle saw, old teammate and friend of Denton, Tom Gallagher present the Denton Hurdle Memorial trophy to man of the match and Teachers' captain David Porter.[[In-content Ad]]
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