The Friday night lights were burning at the BRFU rugby pitch on the Historic Garrison Savannah as top of the table Scorpions faced off against Renegades on September 28, 2012.
 
International sevens speedster Jae Bowen put the Renegades on the board first, but Scorpions promptly retaliated in kind. The first half was a flurry of lightning fast action as Scorpions’ Sean Ward (another international sevens player) literally ran away with the ball to equalize.
 
Renegades’ Kevin Carter and Scorpions’ Ward took the score to 12 all early in the half.
 
After that, things got interesting – with Dario Stoute and Stephan Atwell putting Scorpions ahead with rapid fire tries. Ian Chetland kicked several conversions for Scorpions and was unlucky to have on attempt rebound off the upright back downfield.
 
For his opponents, national U19 player Brandon Walcott demonstrated his kicking abilities as the determined Renegades pounded away at their opponents’ solid defence. The half-time score of Renegades 12 – 30 Scorpions told the tale.
 
Early in the second half, Walcott kicked for touch and was able to draw a penalty in the next series, but the kick was no good. After that, the Scorpions literally ran away with the game, with Sean Bowen, Kevin “Cornflakes” Cobham, Ian Chetland and Sean Bowen scored. Chetland was once more unlucky as a conversion bounced off the crossbar.
 
In the end, this made little difference to the result as the Scorpions defeated the Renegades 51-24.
 
On Saturday, September 30, Emperors came up against the Development Squad in a match that pitted youthful enthusiasm against experience and wiles.
 
Emperors’ scrum half Mikyle Walcott (national U19 player) opened the scoring with a lightning fast try against a team that included his U19 coach, Dennis Hargreaves. His Emperors and U19 teammate Nick Daniel was unable to convert for the additional points.
 
Josh Best (another U19 player) equalized for the Development Squad and Ian Chetland’s conversion gave them the lead, briefly, before Emperors came roaring back with a try from Kyle “Fat Kyle” Smith, an experienced national U19 player. Emperors applied the pressure with a determined run and pass series down the wing from Daniel Ramsay, Che Springer and captain Jeren “Blinki” Clarke. This resulted in a kick for touch, a line out and a driving maul that saw Clarke bulldoze his way across the try line.
 
Undismayed, the Development Squad responded by giving the ball to Dario Stoute, one of the fastest men on the field, and he made no mistake with his try, even though the conversion attempt failed.
 
The restart kick from Nick Daniel was returned by the Development Squad and incurred a penalty, leading to a long but ultimately frustrating stint for them in Emperors territory. Despite having the advantage in pack weight, the Development Squad was unable to get across the line. The half-time score was Emperors 15 – 12 Development Squad.
 
The second half action was fast and furious as Emperors’ Nick Daniel powered his way through the opposition to score a hard-fought try. Jeren Clarke’s kick hit the crossbar and rebounded.
After the restart, Dario Stoute put Development Squad back in the game wit his trademark speed. In response, the Emperors’ attack was enthusiastic but error-prone, until Kean Blackman (another U19 player) powered his way to a try for his team.
 
The next few minutes of play did no credit to either side, with silly to stupid mistakes abounding. Nick Daniel executed a decent kick and chase, tackling Josh Best who was the receiver. In the next series, Daniel used his size and experience to run over the opposition and bring the score to 30-17. Kean Blackman’s kick was good, and that seemed to open the floodgates, with rapid fire scoring by the Emperors in the dying stages of the game: Mario Holder and Daquan Nedd were able to add to their team’s total. Teammates Kean Blackman and Dorian Browne kicked for the conversions.
 
The final score was 39-24 to the youthful Emperors over the Development Squad.
 
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For more information, contact Kathie Daniel, Public Relations Officer, at Kathie@southpawgrafix.biz or telephone (246) 268-1496.