Whithead saves' Gades blushes
Ever-improving Mariners outfit played their hearts out against a lacklustre Renegades team which scored three tries to Mariners' two and remained unbeaten in the First XV Amstel League.
A determined Mariners pack shocked the more experienced Renegades eight with some well won ball in the line-outs, mainly through Marty Vinks and aggression in the back row where Jonah Jones was outstanding.
Renegades' Lawrence Moore was sent off halfway through the second half for foul play after being given stern warnings by referee Brian Toms.
Dave Conway exposed several weaknesses in the tackling of Renegades and on several occasions weaved through would be tacklers to link up with his back row and the ever present Davin Dublin who played his best game to date for Mariners at fullback.
Barry Whitehead saved the day for Renegades by scoring two crucial tries when Mariners looked poised for a comeback.
The first half score of 12-8 was a result of a Whitehead try after good inter-passing with Dave Taylor.
Sean Kelly drove hard for the corner and scored a try for Renegades which Phil Heaney converted from the touchline.
For Mariners, Steve Brossard showed good skills with a pickup after a tackle to score Mariners first try with Mike Gorman adding the conversion.
In the second half both sides never gave up and combined to produce a very exciting finish with Mariners looking particularly dangerous in the closing minutes.
A try was scored by Whitehead from the kickoff and Steve Phillips replied after five minutes to bring about the final score.
Teachers 17, Police 13 Teachers held onto their slender lead in the second half and withstood enormous Police forward pressure in the last 20 minutes to emerge with a 17-13 win against Police.
Captain Alvin Harvey was Teachers' hero after scoring two tries when Teachers were trailing 5-0 and 13-12, and was deservedly rewarded by being named the Amstel player of the week.
During the first half Police constantly argued among themselves and showed dissent to referee Kieron Peacock, who had to talk to the Police forwards on a number of occasions.
Conversely the Teachers comrade re and commitment were the winning combination on the day.
Police forwards won a lot of possessions in the lineout but used the rolling maul too often and were sometimes robbed of the ball by a tenacious Teachers pack.
Gareth Davies, in his first league game this season, scored a good individual try after five minutes of play but showed little of his usual aggressive running skills from the base of the scrum.
Teachers hit back with a well taken try by young Roman Romeo, who beat Russell Matthews on the outside to score in the corner.
Harvey's first try was a result of Police indiscipline and Michael Montgomery took a quick penalty which caused confusion in the Police defence.
Montgomery passed to Scott Correia who gave Harvey the scoring pass near the post. Andre Simons converted to bring the score to 12-5 at halftime.
Several lineouts on the scrums resulted in Police deservedly scoring a typical forward try in the corner through Terry Maxwell.
Teachers conceded a penalty which Oliver slotted over, bringing the score to 13-12 in Police's favour 20 minutes from full time.
Teachers showed great determination in defence and in a rare attacking position Terry Walsh cleverly charged down the kick from Oliver, Correia quickly snapped up the ball to feed Harvey for the match-winning try in the corner.