Police’s dismal run of form in the league continued against a new look Renegades team. The game started off in wet drizzly conditions under the watchful eye of referee Ben Jewitt. Police almost had a dream start when a planned kick off move saw Tommy Edwards perfectly lofted drop kick chased down by speedy Neville Zuill. The kick found Renegades with the pants down and with no one to stop him - Zuill had the ball agonizingly go off his finger tips for a knock on. The opening play epitomized the Police's day - good intentions let down by last second mistakes. Renegades kicked astutely for position and were content to play simple rugby with their back line using crash ball lines back into the support of their huge pack to great effect. Police’s tackling was up to the challenge and they soaked up the initial pressure well with a couple of try saving tackles by Dan Cole and Ralshon Douglas ensuring that usual early soft tries were not given up. The scrums were rock solid with the front row of Peiter Erasmus,  Peter Keiran and Lambert Scheuder dominating the set pieces. The Blue forwards began to build in confidence and they controlled the lineouts well. Gerald Erasmus and Adam Richards were able to secure clean ball which allowed the driving mauls to develop.

A surprised Renegades pack found themselves on the wrong end of some text book rolling mauls. One 30 yard rumble was reminiscent of the mighty blue pack in the late eighties! Darren Richardson reveled in the driving play and was able to link with the support play of Paul Canfield and Adriaan van der Merwe but far too often promising attacking positions were squandered by a handling error or the wrong option taken. Renegades got on the board late in the half when a bone-headed, “hands in the ruck” penalty - in front of the referee and 25 yards in front of the post- was conceded. Renegades Standoff Phil Hall knock the easy penalty over for a 3-0 lead. Deep into the first half injury time, Police replied with a great break from Hamish Homer whose inside run was ably supported by the ubiquitous Paull Davis who had a storming game at open side flanker. Much to the howls of protest from the engaged crowd, the ‘Gades, showing some cynical streetwise moxie, killed the ball when a Blue try looked on the cards.

Police could not build on their epic come from behind Duckett win last week and were humbled by a well-organized Teachers outfit 31-10. On a pristine sunny day back at Warwick Academy, Police fielded a thin team with an equally shallow bench. Under the watchful eye of veteran referee Dennis Dwyer, Teachers kicked off with the slight breeze at the backs. From the onset the Reds set the tone up front and thoroughly dominated the 50-50 ball with committed driving play. The Police fighting spirit was nowhere to be seen and they came out horribly flat and disconnected. Playing firmly on the front foot Teachers forwards drove relentlessly off the first phase, in text book mauls. The undersized police pack had no answer for the technique display and a first half clinic was put on. Reds were camped in the blue half for 90% of the time and a sense of despair was creeping into even the most loyal of Police supporters.

A fairly straight forward back row move saw reds slickly move the ball through 8-9-10-14 to score in the corner as the cover defense was left wanting. The conversion was made and an early 7-0 platform was built on shortly afterwards when a powerful driving maul was illegally brought down. Reds went for the penalty but the ball hit the posts and drop down into the awaiting hands of Thomas “Tank” Greenslade who gratefully dove over for a converted try. At 12-0 Police heads were going down and the body language was clear to see that this was going to be a long day. Darren Richardson tried to take the battle to the reds but far too often he was isolated and lost the ball in contact. The dangerous Police backs were starved of ball and they few occasions they touched the pill it was in very static moves with no real venom. Reds continued to pile forward and the evitable third try came off the buildup of some rolling mauls. The conversion was missed but the crowd could sense it was only a matter of time for the Teachers bonus point try to follow.

George Duckett Memorial

Under steel grayclouds that constantly threatened to darken and explode with thunder andlightening the Bermuda Police Rugby Club held the 38th Annual GeorgeDuckett Memorial Day at a muddy and sodden Police field in Prospect Devonshire.

The day’s festival of rugby started off with the 2nd team women’s game. The BPRFC women’s section has grown from strength to strength and the fact that thesection was able to field two complete sides in one day is a fine testament tothe organization and dedication of the ladies committee and the coaching skillsof Anthony Fellowes. In a keen contest,the Police 2nd team, captained by Andrea Dawes, narrowly went down1-0. A fair result would have been a tie as Police player Carolyn Prendeville mistakenly ran out of the dead ball zone after a fine break and thereby denyingher team a score.

The 2nd team Police men’s team fielded a dichotomy of players ranging from gnarlyveterans in Sean Field-Lament, Mike Fish and the venerable Gareth Davies to theeffervescent rookies Ricardo Lima and Bill Oredorf. It was heartwarming to seefather and son combination on the park with Andrew Pell and Danny Pell showingthe passing of the mantle in an enjoyable friendly match. The Rest started offwell with giant lock Dan Greenslade dominating the early lineouts. Howeverformer national team lock-Matt Smith was able to secure enough ball to unleasha surprisingly dangerous police back line led by Jonathan Cassidy at standoff.In torrential conditions the Blue back line was able to piece together some amazingpassing plays which saw speedster John Jackson unleashed out wide.

This Saturday 14th January 2012, the George Duckett Memorial Game will be played at Police Field, Prospect, Devonshire. This is the 38th time the trophy will be played for!

The schedule of games are as follows:

12:30pm - 2nd team women’s

1:00pm - 2nd team men’s

2:15pm - 1st team women’s

3:00pm - George Duckett Memorial

We have a shortage of props and so have asked the other clubs to help us out! At the very least the 2nd team will be uncontested scrums and the 1st team will start contested but may go to uncontested. We also would like a few guys from the 2nd team to sub for the 1st team – just in case we need it!

Support your club and all participating members. Ideally we will all be at the ground for 12.30pm to support the women.