The Redeyes, in the midst of a struggling season, were within three points of Rennie at half-time and just one point down at the final break, but the Hoppers lifted with 4.6 to 1.1 in the last to claim the four points.
Cam Sudholz looked the goods up forward and kicked four goals, while Jack Welsh remained in red-hot form in another best-on-ground display.
Dean Bigger, Jarryd Fountain, and Jack Kennedy were also good for Rennie.
Lachie MacDonald was again Blighty’s best, with Brett Napier (two goals), Judd Barnes (one), playing coach Jack Tyndall, Beau Close and Matt O’Connor also solid for Blighty.
Final score, Rennie 12.12 (84) to 9.6 (60).
Tyndall said while his side was on the losing end, he couldn’t fault the effort of his players on the day.
‘‘The effort was there this week but we hate losing, so there’s still not too much to be happy about,’’ he said.
‘‘To be in it at three quarter time and lose it in the last, particularly when we didn’t take advantage of the fact that they had a player sent off during the game, that’s disappointing.
‘‘You could tell in the last quarter that we just ran out of legs. Again with a few outs we had blokes playing a full game of thirds or reserves before playing seniors.
‘‘We also had Lachie MacDonald, who was on fire, off for a long period of time due to him cramping up, so if we had him on for longer it could’ve been a different story.’’
The Redeyes find themselves in a must-win situation when they host Yarroweyah this weekend.
‘‘We have a very important couple of weeks coming up where we face Yarroweyah and Tocumwal,’’ Tyndall said.
‘‘We must win against both of them because we have a pretty tough run as the season closes.’’
It was a tough day for Blighty’s reserves, going down by 79 points to a polished Rennie.
Final score, Rennie 12.15 (87) to Blighty 1.2 (8).
Matt Barker was best on ground, refreshed after a couple of weeks on holiday, while Luke Hay, Bret Leech, Josh Ventrella, Warwick Doolan and Jamie Loy were also among the better players.
21°C