Police Blue but Score Two

With rumors that the Police had recruited a couple of South Africans over the previous weeks this match had the potential to be a real obstacle in the Renegades quest for league glory.

However it turned out that one had been injured in training during the week and the other injured himself after the first 10 minutes of the game, but not before Jimmy Bum touched down for a try within 30 seconds of the kickoff. Brown-Streak put a lovely weighed kick through for Jimmy to fall on to.

The teams struggled with the officials’ interpretation of the breakdown with penalties given away on both sides – it seemed they wanted to make the ruck a non-contact zone which is ultimately what happened, with neither side prepared to contest the ruck in case they touched somebody and conceded a penalty.

The Police seemed to avoid lineouts where possible preferring to take tap-penalties meaning they struggled for field position against a robust Renegade defense.

The scrums were evenly matched throughout the game, although somebody will hopefully let the Police tight-head know that he does not actually need to wear tights to play this position – the name is more an indication of where he engages in the scrum.

With Templo and Samurai scoring a try each, it looked like Renegades would go into halftime three tries up. In the last play of the half, the Police flanker took a quick “tap” penalty to score on the stroke of half time, although the officials failed to notice the lack of a “tap” usually required to allow play to continue. The halftime score was 21-7.

True to form, it took the half time and a stern team talk from Champagne before the Renegades got into their grove.

With Jimmy Bum playing in the backs this week (much to the delight of his fleet footed colleagues) he went on to score another 3 tries (4 for the match), confirming himself as everyone’s favorite top try scorer.

Del Boy and Tripple-H both probably need to work a bit harder on the pitch but still managed to grab a try each despite their lack of effort. Not to be outdone, Des Nash also got back to his scoring ways.

There were a couple of yellow cards in the second half too. Duncs was penalized for slowing the ball at the breakdown and England Prop Dan Cole was yellow carded for the Police for tripping Healy – neither player seemed too abashed at their indiscipline.

Coach Barchiballs who was running late, arrived just in time to see Healy attempt another shit chip kick (see last weekend’s match report). So enraged was he that he move Healy to the naughty wing and put PK at scrum half – most people agreed that this was a tactical change with many pros and cons.

PK should probably get a mention too for kicking 8 out of 9 conversions and making his customary one tackle per game.

As is so often the case, the opposition had the last say on the day with the Police 2nd Row hoofing the ball down the pitch, somehow managing to gather his own kick then waltzing through five Renegade defenders without being touched to score a superb solo try. After the game there was speculation that he might actually be a back masquerading as a forward (substantiated by the fact that he wears a nice red scrum hat).

The game finished 61-12.