January 30, 2013 at 5:54 p.m.
The Rest win three of four from Mariners
Women seconds
The first game was the Mariners ladies 2nd team facing off against the Bermuda Select ladies 2nd team. The Select side were more clinical with their opportunities and opened up a 4-0 lead by the end of the first half. Mariners tried to rally in the second half but the Rest used their greater experience to exploit the gaps and ran out convincing 8-1 winners. Kelly Nusum, impressive throughout the match, led the way for the Rest with three tries, Jillian Summers grabbed two and Jill Montgomery, Melanie Duchine and Maria Dobinson each scored one apiece. Claire McCullagh scored the Mariners try.
Men seconds
The second match of the afternoon pitted the Mariners men's 2nd XV against the Rest 2nd. The men in green opened brightly and early in the game, scrum-half Tony Stott saw a gap at the side of a ruck to dive over and open the scoring. They should have pushed further ahead only for Keith Hodgkins to spill the ball forward with the try line open and no pressure on him. They soon increased their lead when the irrepressible Steve Robb barged over and Hodgkins impressively slotted the conversion. Robb again went over as Mariners began to dominate, and Riaan Visser, magnificent throughout, scored under the posts after great work in the middle. Mariners led 24-0 at the break.
The second half started as the first had finished, as the Mariners exerted a lot of pressure. Robb completed his hat-trick after some intelligent play, Gareth Dixon scored after a sweeping move and Tom Wilkin worked his way over as Mariners opened up a 39-0 lead. The Rest got on the score sheet at the death, when Carl Weston scored after a solid drive from the pack. Mariners 2nd XV won 39-5 and were best served by Robb, Visser, Lawrence Bird, Brian Watson and Johann Oosthuizen.
Women firsts
Next up was the Mariners ladies 1st team against the Rest. The Rest opened very brightly and quickly had four tries on the board, with Amy Harvey and Julia Mansfield both getting a brace of well-worked tries. Mariners settled and began to play with more confidence, and Amanda Swan and Chantal Brown both scored to close the gap. Melissa Field then put the Rest further ahead, before Amanda Swan made an amazing catch in the air to break through and pull one back for the Mariners. It was 5-3 to the Rest at the half.
The second half again saw the Rest burst out of the blocks, with Field finding a gap to score and then Harvey completed her hat-trick. Again Mariners responded, with Joanna Turner scoring after a beautifully worked dummy switch. Fiona Beckerlegge closed the gap even further after a great score, but again the Rest came back at them. Laura Haynes and Field, grabbing her hat-trick in the process, both crossed the whitewash. Swan and Turner both picked up late tries for the Mariners but it was too late to pull off the comeback, the final score being 9-7 in favour of the Rest.
Men's firsts
The final game was the men's first team game. The Rest started superbly, recovering their own kick off through Tom Healy and catching the Mariners asleep, some good passing ended with Conor McGlynn diving over. Ian Henderson converted to give the Rest an early lead and they tried to press on their early dominance. Mariners began to get more aggressive at the breakdown and with better ball control, managed to get a foothold in the game. Rich Holden slotted two penalties, the second a monster effort from half way, as the men in green brought it back to 7-6. Mariners were then inexplicably not awarded a try when talented debutant Ed Jennings clearly touched down. Henderson slotted a penalty late in the half to leave it 10-6 to the Rest at halftime.
Mariners came out fired up in the second half and finally got a try when Alun Thomas made a superb break to touch down. Holden converted to extend the lead to 13-10. The constant stop-start nature of the second half prevented both sides from gaining any momentum. Eventually, a good drive from the Rest forwards saw Henry Paddison emerge with the try, again converted by Henderson. As the game drew to a close, a fantastic turnover by Mike Barthuizen ended with Paddison going over for his second try. The final score was 22-13 to the Rest.
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