Mariners won their first league game since 1988 by beating Police 8-3 in a dour First XV Amstel League rugby encounter at Nationals yesterday where both teams were uninspiring.

The upset was certainly on the cards when Police fielded their weakest side for several years. Nevertheless, Mariners showed much improvement on last weekend when they were hammered by Teachers 47-5 and they thoroughly deserved yesterday's win.

In the first half, both teams traded penalties, bringing the score to 3-3 at half-time. Colin Lunn struck a 45-yard penalty after 10 minutes to match Mike Gorman's penalty in the first five minutes.

Lunn disappointed sparce Police supporters by missing the next three penalty attempts. The Police set-pieces were very scrappy with scrums constantly turning 90 degrees and line-outs providing poor ball for Russell Matthews in his unaccustomed role at scrum-half.

Mariners' forwards were quicker to the breakdown and it was quite evident that Police solely missed Sean Field and Ian McLelland in the back row. In the second half, captain and outside half Dave Conway pressurised Police with some intelligent kicking from set-pieces.

Twenty minutes into the half, Conway chipped ahead and collected the ball to feed Gavin Dublin who scored in the corner. The rest of the second half was marred by a series of collapsed scrums and poor handling.

Sensing an historic victory, Conway and Dublin tackled ferociously and saved several scoring chances by Police who desperately tried to avoid this defeat.

Police will be strengthened in next weekend's game against Teachers with the return of Gary Osborne, Tim Carr, Field and McLelland. Mariners must be inspired by this win but will have to put in an extra effort to beat Renegades next week.

Renegades 34, Teachers 13 Although Renegades deservedly won Teachers had the territorial advantage throughout the game. Renegades showed that any mistakes by the opposition will be eagerly snapped up and converted into points.

In fact two tries came from Teachers fumbles in the backs where Lawrence Moore and Mike Gorrie quickly capitalised.

Teachers put a lot of pressure on Renegeades in the first 20 minutes and deservedly went 6-0 up after two fine penalty kicks Andre Simons. However, a resolute Renegades defence stopped Teachers scoring tries after some good back play.

Set-pieces were even in the first half as both teams provided good solid scrummaging ball. After 25 minutes, Barry Whitehead seized on a loose ball and fed Phil Heaney who scored near the posts to bring the score to 7-6.

Bobby Moulder, replacing an injured Scott Correia and having his first game for Teachers for five years, ran aggressively at the Renegades backs. Teachers lost the ball after the tackle and Moore picked up the loose ball and ran well to score under the post. Heaney converted to bring the score to 14-6 at half-time.

In the second half it was Renegades' turn to pressurise Teachers and a constant stream of good ball gave Moore the opportunity to pin Teachers down with some intelligent long kicks. Teachers gave two needless penalties away for late tackling and offside to put Renegades further ahead 20-6.

Teachers came back aggressively with some fine runs by Andrew Correia and Albert Moura who returns to Teachers after five years of absence from the game. Several penalties were awarded against Renegades for killing the ball, which gave Teachers the chance to score but their specialised penalty moves produced no points.

Yet another Teachers fumble after a chip ahead by Gorrie gave Renegades the chance they needed to seal the game when Gorrie passed the ball to Pat Jones who scored in the corner. An excellent touch-line conversion by Heaney pushed the score to 27-6.

Never-say-die Teachers produced a fine back row move from a scrum where Anthony Cupidor, Terry Walsh and David Cooke inter-passed before giving Richard Raistrick a try in the corner. Simons converted from the touch-line to bring the score to 27-13.

Immediately from the kick-off, a sleepy Teachers defence allowed David Taylor to weave his way thorugh several players before passing to Des Nash who scored to put the final nail in the Teachers coffin. Heaney again converted for the final 34-13 scoreline.