Mens & Ladies match report (Oct 28)

Renegades Men v Police

Both teams had 15 players with even a couple of subs floating around, the Southampton Thunderdome was poised for a full game of rugby despite the nay-sayers.

Fans of Renegades who watched them in the late 90s could be forgiven for thinking they were in a time warp as Dunkerley, Gibson and Williams rolled back the years, togging out in their heavy cotton shorts and shin high boots.

Renegades exerted early pressure with the forwards dominating the breakdown and the backs showing slick hands and clinical finishing. Renegades secured the try bonus point by half time with Police managing one try against the run of play.

Midway through the half tensions reached boiling point as handbags were swung and purses clutched.

Jimmy Bum fearing he was about to be driven off the cliff edge that passes for a touch line at the Thunderdome, elbowed Jar Niko in the face, who responded with a couple of punches, knocking Jimmy to the floor. Unsurprisingly the ref missed it all despite being next to the incident.

In the second half Renegades continued to dominate, running in another 6 tries.

Many were surprised to see Mikey ‘The Legend’ Williams come off at halftime - now into his 60s there are concerns he is no longer capable of going on the lash for 3 days and then playing 80 minutes of rugby.

Gibler tried a few of his trade mark grubber kicks, usually putting Renegades in a worse position.

With the match won, Renegades started to fade the Police ran in 4 more tries.

Renegades Ladies v Teachers

A mid-week cyber attack on the fixture secretary's fag packet meant this weekend's games were in jeopardy until Friday afternoon. Thankfully the hefty ransom was paid and all three games went ahead on Sunday afternoon without much hiccup.

The sun was splitting the stones during the warmup, moans of "bring back the rain" could be heard amongst the fair skinned and red headed players in the group! A courtesy wake up call was put in to Mulli and she managed to get herself out of bed and on the pitch just as the ref blew the whistle for kick off.

With the Teachers and Renegades both unbeaten in the league so far, this match was anticipated to be hotly contested. Thankfully for Renegades it was Jess C who broke the deadlock with a solo exhibition of her footballing skills. A 5th touch grubber kick and chase from ten yards out saw her out sprint her opponent and touch the ball down for the first try of the match.

Michelle, Sam and Lianna were introduced early on to provide some much needed rest for the heat stroked and hungover! Laura P in typical fashion found herself with the ball and half a gap in the defense. Without a second of hesitation she was away and for the second week in a row had herself a breakaway try. Mulli, now fully awake, made the conversion.

Some last ditch efforts in defense and fortunate errors by the opposition kept the score 12-0 with a few minutes to go in the half. A penalty conceded by the Teachers resulted in them switching off for a few seconds. In those few seconds, Mulli had tapped the ball and skipped past all of the opposition to touch down and convert to make it 19-0 at the break.

Teachers scored two tries in the second half and some feared Renegades were about to blow it. They didn't..... Final result 19-10

Co-Captain Keelin made sure the Veuve Cicquot was in full flow after the game, unfortunately this was to toast a sad farewell to Captain Jax who leaves the Island this week. Renegades wish to thank you for your dedication as captain and you know your boots will be in the kit bag for your return!

Player of the Match: Mulli