January 30, 2013 at 5:54 p.m.
The Rest manhandle Police
The Rest manhandle Police
The day's rugby festivities started off with the Police 2nd XV taking on a Presidents XV. The Police side fielded several knarly veterans in the form of Mark Norman, Daniel Moore and Angus Aylife. The Rest side was stocked with exuberant youths with the majority of the Bermuda U-18 "young byes" getting a run around with their enthusiastic player/coach Keith Hodgkins. Judging by the passion and commitment shown by the up and coming youngsters rugby in Bermuda has a promising future. Rest stand off Shauntion Simons was ably supported by Andre Landy, Lubin Sousa, Patrick Richardson , Kai Edwards and Marcus Symonds. The opening kick off saw the Rest run at the older Police team from deep in their half and this start set the tone for the entire game. The young legs and willingness to attack from anywhere soon found the fading Blues against the ropes and a well taken line out ball by 2nd row Daniel Morgan was powered over by Henry Adderley for a converted try to open the Rest's account 7-0. Shortly afterwards a fine individual effort by Shauntion Simons saw the standoff fight his way through several would be tacklers and score a startling 50 meter try in the corner to give the Rest a 12-0 lead. However, the Police were not about to roll over and play dead especially in a game that several veterans had played in annually for over ten years. Some smart positional play put the larger Police pack in a lineout close to the line. A text book take and drive orchestrated by Keith Senior and Keanan Press saw the burly boys in blue power over from close with the diminutive scrum half Gareth Davies claiming the honours. Referee Ron Flesch had a strong game and must have enjoyed the atmosphere in which both teams were more interested in playing then carping on at the referee. In the second half, down 12-5, the Police played with more urgency and the quick thinking stand off Guy Bowker was instrumental in bringing his team back into the game. A counter attack saw Bowker link up with Davies who drew the cover before putting the lightening quick winger Dean "the Sheffield Slasher" Martin away with acres of space. Martin made no mistake and showed a clean pair of heels to his opposite number to score in the corner to tighten the score line to 12-10. Police continued to look for the go ahead score but strong tackling held them out and it looked like it was not going to be their day. With both sides visibly tiring in the final stages a promising foray was once again repelled and the ball stolen in contact. The long clearing kick put the ball at the half way line and it looked like the fat lady was singing for the boys in blue- certainly the referee was reaching for his whistle for the final blast. However, Bowker smartly threw the ball into himself and kept play alive! A perceptive inside pass saw Davies once again exploit space up the middle and when the Rest finally reacted to close the Welshman down- he fired a long pass outside to the unmarked Martin who thundered down the side lines to score in the corner giving the Police 2nd XV a thrilling 15-12 comeback victory.
The Police ladies side took on an extremely strong rest side captained by Michelle Brendt who was playing in her penultimate game in Bermuda. Despite being passionate and fully committed to the game the Lady Blues could not match the depth of talent the Rests were fielding. A three try explosion from speedster Laura Haynes, a brace from Michelle Brendt and a dubious penalty try gave the Rest a commanding 6 try score line. Police responded with two tries from the inspirational Julia Mansfield and another from the dependable Kate Brown. Anna Knapman-Scott was indeed fortunate not to see early showers as she mimed out her displeasure at beleaguered referee Terry Madeiros after a series of decisions went against the Police. Unfortunately it was too little to late for the Police as they went down 6-3 in a very entertaining game.
The main event saw the Rest team fielding a strong side with players highly motivated as National team positions were up for selection. The Police team had been training hard all week and they looked to kepp their 4 game Duckett winning streak alive. After the minutes silence in honour of the fallen COP, the Rest received the opening kick off and started a stunning 20 minutes of complete domination over a surprisingly flat Police team. National team coach Peter Shillingford's game plan was to spread the ball wide early and often and it proved to be a decisive tactical decision as this approach cruelly exposed the Police weakness on the flanks. A four try onslaught in the opening 20 minutes all but ended the game as a contest and left both Police players and spectators reeling. The first try came from some slick handling in the backs with the intelligent Greg Garside at stand off combining well with his scrum half partner Tom Healy who had a gargantuan game. The ball was slickly recycled in the midfield by the ever present Rest back row and a grateful Jeff Sangster was released out wide to dot down in the corner. Chris "Sausage Legs" Way missed the difficult conversion. The restart saw an astonishing attack culminating with National team Captain Bobby Hurdle scoring in the corner. Center Harry Andrew was instrumental in the attack with strong in roads being made down the middle. Rest open side flanker Kris Furbert who had an immense game kept the movement flowing and Tom Healy's unselfish flick pass off the ground to the giant Hurdle saw the score extend to 12-0 after Way's conversion. The Rest did not let up the pressure and with a full head of steam built up, bulldozed over the semi catatonic Police team who had not yet touched the ball. Dave Porter, playing at the unaccustomed full back position, where he looked at home and dangerous, finished off yet another passage of back play to score a converted try to take the score to 19-0 with less than 10 minutes played. Police Captain Jamie Webb endeavored to rally his troops with some strong words in the dead ball area; His oration seemed to have an effect and the restart was expertly stolen by Dave Bird to win the Police their first bit of possession. Some promising runs were made by Tom Sutcliffe and Mark Evans but unfortunately the ruck support was a little slow- a fatal flaw with the very present Furbert and Hurdle on hand to snaffle any loose ball away. Once again the Police back line was opened up with a enterprising counter attack and the mercurial Harry Andrews scored his first try of the season to give the Rest a demoralizing 24-0 lead and all but end the contest with only 20 minutes gone. Police showed their resolve and some inspirational play from Ken O'Shea and a truculent Iain Simpson brought some respectability back to the Police game. The closing 15 minutes of the first half saw the Police resume their vaunted structured pod approach to the game and slowly the powerful Police pack began to pound their way forward much to the relief of the many partisan supporters crowding the sidelines. Referee Dennis Dwyer awarded several kickable penalties as the Rest began to repeatedly infringe at the breakdown. Strangely, as it was still very early in a long game, the easy points on the offering were spurned and a decision was made to kick for attacking line outs. However the cruel and unremitting malice of fate again conspired as the usually dependable right foot of Michael Kane deserted and his probing kicks missed the corners and promising offensive pressure was squandered. The half time whistle came with Police heads hanging low. The second half commenced and the improved play from the Police continued. The Police front row of Jamie Billings Andrea Battison and Iain Simpson were in dominating form in the chthonic environs of the scrum. No 8 Kenny O'Shea made some strong runs and set up space out wide. Scum half Nick Suprina who gave a herculean 2nd half effort, found Captain Jamie Webb with a long pass. Webb emotionally powered ahead and was brought down short of the line. The Rest cynically killed the ball and were pulled up by Referee Dwyer. Police Vice-Captain Dave Bird demanded the ball and charged over from close breaking through three would be tacklers to score. Nick Kempe converted the try and Police had finally got on the score card 24-7. With the wind up their backs, the Police forwards continued to pound away at their opposite numbers and were rewarded by another forward try when the powerful Billings burrowed his way over from close for an unconverted try to close the gap to 24-12 but that was as close as the Police would come as fatigue began to set in. The restart saw an intriguing spectacle unfold as a hard charging O'Shea was floored by West Indies scrum half Tom Healy's unintentional high tackle. Fiery Scotsman Iain Simpson took exception to the forearm shiver and took the Irishman to task in an uneven weight class roll in the mud. Referee Dwyer sensibly made light of incident and let both parties off with a stern tongue lashing. The Rest soaked up the Police surge and slowly began to retake control of the game with some astute positional kicking. The pressure began to show and an errant pass from the base of 5 meter scrum was pounced on by Connor McGlynn who scored between the posts to extend the lead further 31-12. The Rest administered the final blow with a quick line out to Hurdle who drove in close before handing off to the impressive Garside who scored his sides 6th and final try. Center Luke Millward converted and the Rest trotted off with a much deserved 38-12 victory. Assistant Commission Carlton Adams presented the trophies drawing to a close a well attended and keenly contested Duckett Memorial day of rugby.
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