Renegades run in 5 tries against Mariners

Several changes were made to the line-up of the team who almost clinched defeat from the jaws of victory in last week’s fixture against the Teachers, including debut starts for Jacobe Darrell and Del Coetzer and a rare appearance at 7 from Benny ‘The Sub’ Gibson.

Within 15 minutes the Renegades were two tries up and two men down. Dave DaRave went over first from short range injuring his back in the process, later claiming that whilst on the pitch the team were scoring at a rate of 1 try every 7 minutes.

Frank the Tank Wheatley went over next. A thrusting break and offload from Benny ‘The Sub’ Gibson lead to a four on one formality as Frank the Tank did the honours. Luckily he decided against streaking through the quad as a celebration - it well recorded that local law enforcement take a dim view of such antics.

With Jacobe injuring his ankle, Salty came off the bench which led to a reshuffle in the pack to the delight of Del Boy, who moved to his more accustomed position on the blind side flank. A breakdown in communication (probably due to Del’s cockney accent) led to Captain Cumbers (and Nicholas Lyndhurst look-a-like) starting Del Boy at prop – “Rodders you plonker!”

Renegades continued to keep their structure and confine the Mariners to their own half. The next try resulted from the packs continued pressure on the Mariners line out when Duncs gathered an overthrow at the rear of the line. He offloaded to Healy who spun the ball out wide allowing Cedric to slice through the Mariners defence.

Towards the end of the first half a touch of complacency set in and the Mariners started to play with the ball in hand. Several missed tackles allowed the Mariners to go over in the corner with 35 minutes on the clock.

In a nervous 5 minutes the Mariners maintained good pressure and the Renegades defence was starting to creak, with several missed tackles and a charge down keeping the Mariners camped on the Renegades try line. In the last play of the half the Mariners took a scrum from a penalty on the 5 meter line but the Renegades tight five held resolute, preventing the push over. Lacking a plan B the Mariners attempted to spin the ball wide but ended up knocking it on which brought an end to the first half at 21-5.

After half time the Renegades were once again in the ascendancy and after some early pressure an overlap developed on the right wing. There was still plenty of work to do for Paul ‘SSLC’ Kelly to finish the try off, but the Flying Orangeman made it look easy and went over in the corner to secure the bonus point. Barry missed this conversion proving he’s just a very lucky kicker.

Around the 60 minute mark Renegades had an attacking scrum in the middle of Mariners territory. The front row including rookie Michael Williams and Salty were holding firm against the Mariners power, even as Salty was still acutely feeling the aftereffects of a rogue knee to his Salty balls. This allowed winger and part time No.8 Jimmy Bum to pick up from the base of the scrum and run in a 30 meter solo effort under the posts.

For the remainder of the game Renegades were on the back foot due to lack of cohesion and making simple errors, with Mariners eventually scoring the final try of the game. But not before Barry got into a philosophical debate with the touch judge about whether the ‘on’ the try line is ‘behind’ the try line; and if a try line painted in a remote forest, but with nobody there to see it, does it actually exist? To cap off this comedy of errors, Paul ‘SSLC’ Kelly told a joke to the ref that was of such poor quality (even Mikey wouldn’t use it). This resulted in a Mariners penalty on the halfway line rather the standard restart after conceding a try.

With a 33-12 bonus point win, the Renegades extend their lead at the top of the table but there is plenty to work on in training next week if they are to compete against the best of the rest at the Founders Day next Sunday.

Earlier in the day the Ladies continued their undefeated run with a 2-1 win over Mariners. Leah Collis sneaked through the middle to take the first try, before retiring to the sideline for a rest and a Coors Light. Mariners however evened the score card with the young legs of Lysmeiri Herrera taking on the normally iron clad defence around the outside. But the Renegades Ladies prayers were answered a few minutes later when Amy Harvey McGlynn threw one of her controversial Hail Mary's in to the hands of Captain Mulli to make a clean break through the middle of Mariner's defence. Mulli's little legs weren't enough to carry her over the line but with some magic footwork she managed to confuse the not so happy Baby and offload the ball to rookie Nicky Palle who provided some epic support and secured her first Club try. Welsh Scouts were spotted on the sidelines of Warwick Academy but sadly nobody made into Warren Gatlands Top 3.