A well-organised Renegades pack surprised everyone with this outstanding performance as Gades beat Police at their own game -- forward dominance.

In fact, the final scoreline flattered Police, who, without Gareth Lewis' two blistering tries on the left wing, might have been beaten by at least another 10 points.

That was the superiority of the 'Gades forwards. To add insult to injury, the Police lineout was rendered ineffective by the poor throwing-in of Dave Lunn, the ball eagerly gobbled up by a hungry 'Gades pack.

An important part of Renegades' control was the superior scrummaging, where Danny Forsythe gave his opposite number, Kim White, a torrid time, and paved the way for the victory by driving Police off their own ball at will.

However, on the few occasions that Police won the ball, their back line showed their counterparts a clean pair of heels with Warren Bundy, Alan Oliver and Greg Lunn putting in some good attacking runs.

But it was Lewis who made the most of Police's meagre possession with a try after 10 minutes of play following a break by Lunn in a neat miss-move engineered by Oliver. For his second try he caught a poor clearance kick by Gades chipped over his opposite number and beat the defence for the touchdown.

When the Renegades pack took control with a series of driving mauls, they were illegally pulled down by Police but were eventually rewarded by referee Peter Borland with a try by Trevor Roberts and a penalty try early in the second half.

Teachers 41 Mariners 12 This one-sided affair demonstrated Teachers' power when they field a near full-strength side. And the margin of defeat would have been much higher if the scrums had not become uncontested in the first half.

Uncontested scrums are supposed to be the exception rather than the rule but are allowed when a team cannot field three recognised front row players. Of the four matches played this weekend, three used passive scrums.

However, many feel this option gives an unfair advantage to the team that makes the decision and shouldn't be allowed in First Division matches. In this case, Mariners didn't have a front row substitute following an injury to a prop. But this should be mandatory for First Division matches and already has been made law in most rugby-playing countries.

The match lost its momentum when the scrums became passive after 35 minutes of the first half.

At that point, Teachers were ahead 24-0 following four good tries from Darryl Bean, Kevin Weskowski, Alvin Harvey and Heath Robinson.

The Reds started the second half with a bang, flanker Mike Sutton crashing over for a try converted by Andre Simons, returning after a lengthy leg injury.

Mariners hit back with two good tries by their most competitive players, Josh and Danny McGavern. For Teachers, Bean scored his second try near the end which Simons converted, bringing his kicking tally to 11 points for the day.

In Second Division action, Teachers continued their domination of the league with a 30-0 defeat of Renegades while Mariners cruised past Police 25- 11.