Jared Payne made his competitive comeback on Thursday night when he helped the Mengal Taggers to two victories seeing off Le Racing Club 10 – 6 and overcoming Tagged and Tested 14 – 8 in the Volkswagen Tag Summer League at Malone RFC.

Despite Jared displaying some awesome banter, the first game saw the Taggers get off to a slow start going down 5 – 0 to Le Racing Club at the break making this the first time in seven years that the Taggers had failed to score a point in a half.  However whipped into a frenzy after a Payne team talk the Taggers were back to their best to outscore their opponents 10 – 1 in the second half to take the game 10 – 6.

The second game of the evening saw Mengal take on Tagged and Tested, who had a number of Ballynahinch and Ulster Rugby League players playing. However a solid performance from the Mengal Taggers saw them record a 14-8 victory to propel the Mengal Taggers to the top of the league with 2 games in hand over our nearest rivals. (League Table here.)

Speaking after the games Taggers Player/Coach Gareth Bronte spoke on Payne’s appearance.

It was good to have Jared make an appearance for the league leaders, and he took to tag like a duck to water. He showed some Jedi like tagging and ball handling skills which all added to the excitement of the evening.

This was a great boost for our squad who are still feeling the “Payne” of our successful 31 hour non stop World Record Breaking attempt plus he kept us laughing all the way through with his awesome banter!  We wish Jared all the best when he makes his return for Ulster very soon.

Gareth Bronte

Two victories next week should all but secure the league title for the Mengal Taggers for the 4th year in a row. All support is very welcome and, you never know, they may even have Jared making another appearance.

Get yourself along to Malone and stand up for the Taggers!