Renegades complete comeback to beat Mariners

With injuries and half term taking their toll on the Renegades roster this week, their youth policy, and perhaps more importantly their geriatric policy, were put to the test.

The youth acquitted themselves admirably with Young Tommy, playing for the first time at full back, taking several high balls under pressure and making multiple last-line-of-defence tackles.

The geriatrics didn’t fare too badly either with Mikey Williams scoring a try within the first 5 minutes of the game – his first since retiring for the 6th time at the end of last season.

The Renegades continued to dominate in the early periods of the game with Jahan and Trae the Dog Whisperer making some big carries up the middle of the field. However, the Renegades were unable to capitalise on these early periods of pressure, often making basic errors which allowed Mariners to relieve the pressure.

It wasn’t until Huey Lewis (and the News) picked the pocket of the Mariners scrum half at the back of their scrum and ran half the length of the pitch to score his first try for Renegades.

In previous seasons Mariners might have capitulated at this point, but thanks to some shrewd loan moves in the summer transfer window they started to plot a comeback led by none other than Renegade own PK, currently on sabbatical at Mariners. The SSLC restarted the game with a clever kick-off resulting in the Mariners gaining a lineout on the Renegade’s 5-meter line which they duly drove over for their first (converted) try of the game.

Before the half time whistle was blown the Mariners manage to score another converted try under the posts, largely thanks to basic errors on the part of the Renegades who went into half-time 10-14 down despite their early pressure.

After some stern half time talks the Renegades didn’t panic and were quickly rewarded with a converted try under the posts from Captain Robinho.

Robinho at fly-half, alongside his centres Careful Geoff and Sam the Prod continued to cause the Mariners defence problems for the rest of the afternoon.

Rumour has it that Mikey promised Careful Geoff 1 Canadian Dollar for every pass he caught and carried which had the desired result – Mikey might be out of pocket 11 Canadian Dollars but Geoff never dropped a ball in the 2nd half.

It wasn’t long Sam the Prod was rewarded for his hard-running lines and scored his first try of the season.

The ginger/orange combination might be a crime in the world of fashion but it paid dividends on the rugby field as the axis struck again with Robinho and Sam scoring another try each either side of a purple patch for the Mariners.
The Mariners picked up another try from the Irish Octopus Davey-Boy Rourke, after a prolonged period of pressure on the Renegades try line which saw Duncs (who maintains his innocence) yellow carded and Trae the Dog Whisper go off the pitch with concussion.

This briefly left the Renegades with 13 men as substitutes are a luxury these days. Lucky another Renegade geriatric borrowed some boots and Phil “The Cup” Hall stepped in for the last 15 minutes of the game.

Renegades managed one final score as Geordie Merle went over in the corner in the last play of the game which ended 41-19 to Renegades.