Despite a stubborn and gritty display of rugby in the second half by Bermuda's The Rest, they were outclassed 24-16 by a Teachers outfit who succeeded in gaining the Denton Hurdle Memorial Trophy for the second straight year.

Teachers dominated the first half, serving up a healthy dollop of miss moves, chip kicks and switch passes on a muddy field drying out under the hot afternoon sun at National Sports Club.

Tommy Sinclair opened the scoring after eight minutes on a pass from full back Michael Montgomery after some solid running from wing er Andre Simons on the left.

Simons converted Sinclair's try to make it 7-0 for Teachers. Minutes later Teachers almost scored again after hooker David Cooke found himself free near The Rest's try line.

Richard Raistrick of Teachers added five more points to the tally when he scooped up a loose ball from a maul and rumbled over the line.

Dave Conway of The Rest, initiated a good attacking move with a chip kick over the Teachers back line, but Sinclair pounced on it before Conway could complete the move.

Anthony Cupidor's try in the 29th minute came after a brilliant offensive sequence involving brothers Andrew and Scott Correia.

Simons converted and Teachers enjoyed a 19-0 lead.

Just before the half, The Rest got its first three points when Gavin Corcoran kicked a penalty.

Corcoran added three more in the opening minutes of the second half after Teachers fly half Scott Correia was penalised for swearing.

The Rest came storming back through solid play from Ali Nicholl, Danny Cozens and captain Sean Field after the interval, applying constant pressure in rucks and mauls and demonstrating their superiority in the line outs.

This pressure eventually paid off when scrum half Danny Soares scored his first try after receiving a precision pass from Field.

But Teachers halted what looked like a comeback with a try from Heath (Butch) Robinson after a switch move with Andrew Correia improved their lead to 24-11.

Danny Faries of The Rest had a golden opportunity when he intercepted a pass earmarked for Andre Simons deep in the Teachers half. Even with plenty of room he was unable to dodge the Teachers defence and was brought down.

With one minute left, the Rest scrum half Danny Soares capped a fine individual performance with his second try.

"It was a hard game to get up for,'' said captain Sean Field of The Rest afterwards. "I was disappointed in my performance. We had a game plan, but we just couldn't seem to put it into effect. Teachers always gets up for this game and they played a hell of a game.'' Teachers captain Alvin Harvey was delighted by his side's performance, especially since injuries had sidelined some key players.

"We came out fired up and scored some really good tries early on,'' Harvey said, "but were caught resting in the second half. We were a bit overconfident, I think, and we paid for it because we ended up defending for most of the half.

"But when we did get some ball, our backs created openings and scored tries.

We basically stuck to our game plan we got some early tries and mixed it up a bit. We tried to do that in the second half, but they denied us the ball.

"Our forwards did well against a heavier pack. They won as much ball as they could. I'm sure Denton would have been pleased.'' RED ALERT -- Danny Soares, left, keeps a close eye on Alvin Harvey during yesterday's Denton Hurdle Memorial Teachers won the game for the second straight year.