Nichol Shield final Police 22 Mariners 7 Police confirmed their superiority in First Division rugby by following up the Beck's league title with this Nichol Shield triumph on Sunday.

For a team who were bottom of the table a year ago, this season has seen a remarkable recovery and was due, in no small part, to the management team of Alan Oliver as captain and Andy Wright as manager.

Credit must also be given to Mariners whose late surge in the season shows their determination to succeed. Even though they came away with no silverware this season, their contribution to the league and cup games has been positive, their failure a result of their lack of strength in depth and poor finishing power.

Mariners' improvement in forward play since the beginning of the season has been a revelation -- in this match they destroyed the Police pack in the scrums in the first half but channelled their own put-ins poorly and ran out of steam late in the second half.

Police were always in the driving seat even though Mariners probably had territorial advantage for most of the match. When Police moved the ball wide, Warren Bundy always looked dangerous on the wing and crossed for the second try after a ten minute period of pressure. Bundy looked certain to score again ten minutes from half-time but he was stopped in his tracks with a bone-crunching tackle from Simon Van Der Weg.

The ball was tied up in the forward battle for most of the first half that led inevitably into a bad-tempered spell with referee Dennis Dwyer lecturing forwards from both teams and Ken Anderson being sin-binned.

The Oliver/Gareth Davies veteran combination at half-backs remained deadly and they engineered the first try in a move that mesmerised the Mariners defence, Oliver crossing for the first try after five minutes.

With the half-time score at 14-7, Mariners were still in the running and were camped in the Police half for 15 minutes of the second half but the tackling skills of Dave Bird and Sean Field-Lament ensured that the defences held tight.

A late foray into Mariners' half saw Davies use the blind side of a maul to send Shane Richmond over for the final nail in the coffin.

Robin Hood Trophy final Teachers 42 Mariners 0 This win for Teachers confirmed their superiority in the Second Division after sharing the Beck's league with Mariners.

Sunday's one-sided match could be partly attributed to Teachers' decision to field three `retired' First Division veterans. Andre Simons and brothers Scott and Andrew Correia were eligible to play and Mariners were unlucky to be on the receiving end of some wonderful play exhibited by this trio.

They scored, or assisted in, all six tries (Andrew Correia three, Scott Correia one and Simons two) and one wonders why they retired so early from rugby in the first place.

The contribution of these players to Teachers' success in the '80s and '90s is well known and should they decide to don their old boots next year, the opposition had better beware.

Kevin Harris also had a great day with the boot and kicked six out of seven attempts at goal and even the one he missed ricocheted off the post and was pounced on by the ever-present Scott Correia who outran a surprised defence to score in the corner.

But Teachers didn't have it all their own way and Mariners never gave up and should have scored following some creative moves. For Mariners, Howie Elliot at scrum half was a bundle of energy and Nat Cook at No. 8 was outstanding and tackled everything that moved, showing great control at the base of the scrum.

The only unsavoury incident came late in the game when Mariners flanker Kevin Smith was sent off for repeated foul play.

Police and Teachers shared most of the spoils for the season and the following presentations were made after the two games on Sunday: Beck's First Division: Police Beck's Second Division: Teachers and Mariners (title shared) Nichol Shield: Police Robin Hood Trophy: Teachers Cunningham Sevens: Teachers Halbro Tens: Police President's Cup: Teachers Individual awards 1st XV player of the year: Josh McGavern (Mariners) 2nd XV player of the year: Ian Jamison (Police) Young player of the year: Ryan Davidge (Police) Fair Player award: Dave Lunn (Police) and Danny Forsythe (Renegades).

PHOT No surrender: Mariners' Devrae Noel-Simmons keeps his grip on the ball as he's challenged by Police's Dave Bird (right) during Sunday's Nichol Shield final at Nationals. Police completed the league and shield double with a 22-7 win.