their slim hopes of winning the First Division rugby title.

But it could all have ended rather differently had scrum half Tim Carr made a crucial conversion with only four minutes left. Police at that time were down 23-22.

All Carr had to do was slot the ball between the uprights. Instead, he missed his target in a lapse reminiscent of Tim Fox's blunder one year ago that saw the Blues lose to Renegades 11-10.

This time the missed conversion led to a fierce response from Mariners' fly half Declan O'Laughlin, whose penalty kick on the stroke of regulation time sunk the Blues for good.

O'Laughlin's kicking -- four penalties and two conversions -- was responsible for 16 of his side's 26 points.

The Greens got off to an early 3-0 lead which they never relinquished, with O'Laughlin kicking his first penalty in the opening minutes.

Skipper Keith Beattie was next to score when he sprinted 30 yards for a converted try.

Police were still reeling from this assault when O'Laughlin added a second penalty to make the score 13-0.

However, Police finally earned their first three points with a Carr penalty after 18 minutes but O'Laughlin pressed home the advantage with a penalty kick to ensure that Mariners entered the break with a 16-3 cushion.

After the interval, centre Mark Adams went over on the left with the Police team's first converted try that shaved seven points off Mariners' lead.

But Mariners came roaring back through full back Dominic Hardy aided by an O'Laughlin conversion.

Police fly half Alan Oliver, who had a few promising although unsuccessful surges in midfield, took advantage of an opening to add five points with an effort that Carr calmly converted.

At 23-17 and six minutes left to play the Blues drew within one point when Sean Field rumbled over, but Carr missed the conversion.

And it was left to O'Laughlin to seal Police's fate with a penalty on the stroke of regulation time.

In an opening match that lacked the intensity of the Police-Mariners clash, Teachers came out on top of Renegades 8-3.

After a scoreless first half that saw some brilliant running from Renegades' youngster Nakia Wolffe and Pat Jones, the deadlock was broken when Teachers' outside centre Darryl Bean, who replaced the injured Billy MacNiven, scored the game's only try.

Renegades responded through fly half Phil Heaney after Andre Simons was penalised for an offside violation.

Simons then made up for his mistake minutes later with a successful penalty kick of his own.

Teachers wrapped up the Second XVs league title with a 33-14 win over Police on Saturday.

Mariners lost to Renegades 12-7 in Saturday's other fixture.