Starting line-up

1 Sam Vail 2 Ginger (Newmarket) McLees 3 Rik Relph

4 Matt Price 5 Ken (Rocka) Pearce

6 Colin Weir 7 Shawnton De Four 8 Rob (Cinderella) Bevington

9 Chris Beddow 10 Darey Horn 15 Jay Hall

11 Eddie (BillBob) Murphy 12 Anthony Brown 13 Matt Turner (Captain) 14 Gary Craggs

Manager: Nick (Tweety Pie) Nicholson

Honourable supporters from the injured bench: Chris (The Glove) Milne, Chris (Psycho) Edwards

Match report by Eddie (BillBob) Murphy

It was a lovely afternoon for a game of rugby with sunshine and a moderate breeze. Renegades fielded 14 regulars and Newmarket lent Ginger McLees who hooked and played an excellent game.

The start was a dream for Renegades as excellent follow up and support from the kick-off saw constant forward movement rewarded with a try from Captain Matt Turner in the first minute of the game. This was followed rapidly by a fine break from Antony Brown who was too fast to catch and finished with a long run behind the try line to ground the ball in a good position for Darey to convert - which he duly did, giving a good lead of 12-0.

It was just after Ant's try that Newmarket woke up and came back into the game with a vengeance. They piled on the pressure using the power of their pack and some good running and passing. Despite some stout defence work from the Renegades, they kept coming and eventually the inevitable try was scored.

This in turn shook the Renegades and the play was stepped up and pressure put back on Newmarket. Again, good driving and support took Renegades close to the Newmarket line and Rob Bevington took the ball from the back of a scrum and charged over the line with a couple of Newmarket players hanging on to him. Darey's boot was on target for the conversion taking the score to 19-5.

Newmarket piled on the pressure again and despite some excellent defence, they forced their way back into the game. Two converted tries in the run up to half time saw the sides 19-19 at the break. During the pressure Sam Vail and Rocka clashed heads, leaving Sam seeing stars and Rocka with fine bruise below his right eye.

The second half saw Renegades with their backs to the sun and the breeze in their favour. From the kickoff, passion and determination were constants on both sides. Newmarket made the running in the early part of the half and eventually a long ball along the right touchline was being covered by Rob Bevington when the Newmarket winger charged through him and touched down for a try in the right corner. Bev's legacy as Cinderella was sealed! The conversion was accurate from a very difficult position. Newmarket led 26-19.

Determination not to lose the game saw Renegades fight back and pile the pressure on Newmarket. The Newmarket line was approached on a number of occasions (not least by a startled-looking Rik Relph who found himself in a very unnatural position for a prop). The line was crossed once but the ball was held off the ground. Eventually the pressure told and Anthony Brown broke again and charged over the Newmarket line for a try in the right corner - 26-24.

This time Renegades kept the pressure up and did not allow the game to swing back to Newmarket. Sheer determination kept the ball in Newmarket's half and as the final minutes ticked by, there was debate on whether to kick on every penalty. Eventually, a good opportunity arose and Darey confidently secured the three valuable points to ensure victory.

The game was an outstanding performance by the Renegades. Every player gave his all and the team work was first class.

The comments below say it all:

"I would like to thank the commitment of the 14 players, for turning up yesterday who gave body and soul to a close-fought victory. Great spirit was shown by all, some playing in very unfamiliar positions.

Our multi talented Flora lasted 70 minutes longer than he thought he'd last at scrum half, without giving a hospital pass to Darey once.

Our 'novice' backs, Billbob, Ant, Gary and, new captain for the day, Paperboy all played their hearts out.

The 27 -26 win did not reflect the effort you all put in: bravo Zulu as they say in the Navy, spiffing well done as Jonty says and fu*kin great as we all say. ?" Nick Nicholson

"Flora has shown his ability to play and do more than a job at scrum half as well as fly/centre etc and is not unlike Austin Healy!!! not quite as gobby! Both Wings Gary and Billbob both had great games as did our first-time centres Ant and Matt. We must not forget the pack we have always been up against it up front but the fowards put in a great performance against a decent opposition pack. Is That it.... no, who failed to kick the ball into touch??? for their wingers try?...." Jay Hall

"Great game yesterday, we all played for each other yesterday, and when it mattered we played as a team. Ant two great tries, it is difficult to highlight any one yesterday, but Ant, Shawnton and Bev played amazing..." Darey Horn

"A great mental and physical effort by all. I just hope you all hurt as much as I do today, I've decided not to wear socks because I can't actually bend to put them on! It was a fantastic all round team effort, with old and new heads playing on the edge of their comfort zone and putting themselves on the line. It would have been easy to claim a moral victory but was brilliant that we didn't have to, now lets see if we can take what we've learnt and put a string of "W"s together as we more into the last quarter of the season.

Thinking through the game I could easily find something to say for every single player, and that's the difference I think. Yesterday we played as a team, we didn't do everything right but we didn't get phased by that and remained determined to the end..." Chris Beddow

Try

Matt Turner 1
Anthony Brown 2
Rob Bevington 1

Penalty

Darey Horn 1

Conversion

Darey Horn 2

Drop Goal

Nominations