Starting line-up

1 Sam Vail 2 Jack Cowley 3 Richard Cowley

4 Matt Price 5 Ken (Rocka) Pearce

6 Chris Edwards 7 Chris Milne 8 Rob Bevington

9 Ren Pesci 10 Daray Horn 15 Matt Turner

11 Alex Moreau 12 Chris Beddow 13 Shaunton DeFour 14 Jay Hall

16 Eddie Murphy 17 Rik Relph 18 Ben Sutton 19 Kevin

Manager: Nick ‘Tweety Pie’ Nicholson

Match report by Sam 'Under a collapsed maul' Vail

A keen Renegades starting line-up were looking forward to this grudge match, just as soon as the referee got changed. It was touch and go as to whether the pitch was playable or not. Ren had already forked over the pitch and declared it frozen, so hopes were not high. The referee decided otherwise so Renegades received the opening kick. Sam was about to catch the opener when a March forward pulled him back by the neck, the referee apparently unsighted! Opening scrums were forgettable as the Renegades were getting shoved backwards and not winning anything. Likewise for the line-outs which were contested with great spirit from both sides. The Glove was getting some of the treatment he normally dishes out in the lineout with the March front jumper clawing and hooking like Mike Tyson, then landing right on top of the Renegades lifter (Sam again).

March used their early aggression and scored a try from the forward play within the first 10 minutes. After this it started to go down hill for the Renegades as Chris 'The Glove' Milne had to retire to A&E with a fractured cheek bone and eye socket. Not long after that, Ren was crippled with a calf muscle problem.

Hopes were raised when Jay made a characteristic run through the opposition defense and score under the posts, neatly converted by Daray.

The loss of Glove was devastating for the Renegades line-out, forcing all sorts of changes, ending up with Ben jumping and Sam throwing. This combination sort of worked but was never satisfactory.

'Psycho' Chris Edwards was yellow carded for a professional foul, then the card was rescinded when it was explained to the Ref he was a 'novice'. This didn't matter to Psycho who went off in a huff, only to return after a friendly chat from the ref. As a reward, he was promptly dropped on his back during a lineout, then suffered a muscle problem in his thigh.

With Ren off, Jack went to scrum half and Sam moved to hooker allowing Rik into the front row. The resulting scrums were somewhat more solid. The backs were standing and watching with little to do except defend. Having said that, the effort from everybody was immense in defense. Unfortunately, tired legs were to blame for the third March try which was practically the last play of the match.

Captain for the day, Rob Bevington, was a constant thorn in the oppositions side, and the Refs ear. Great work from all the Renegades backs in defense. The forwards are really going to have to step up, now that Glove is out for the season.

"Confirmed yesterday after a variety of scans, 3 hours of vomiting and collapsing onto the A and E desk is I've fractured my eye socket behind the eye-ball and fractured the cheekbone. Am back in hospital tomorrow to assess whether or not I will need surgery or not. The doctor is advising 3 months away from contact sport so will be fine for the weekend, stick me down for the front row."

"I'll be found in the gym from now until mid March where i hope to make an early return to be match fit for tour."

"Keep up the good work, we are now playing for each other as a team, the next step is to up the aggression levels, and become really physical at the breakdown, this is where we really struggle when we don't have a platform from scrum or lineout. So let's have some creative visualisation, each of the opposition are likely to sleep with your missus or your dog (whichever is more important) so twat the bastard." Chris 'The Glove' Milne

Try

Jay 1

Penalty

Conversion

Daray 1

Drop Goal

Chris 'The glove' Milne

Fractured cheek bone and eye socket

Ren Pesci

Calf and shoulder problems

Chris 'Psycho' Edwards

Sore back and thigh, bruised ego

Rocka

Stud holes to inner thigh

Nominations