Bears gain first away win at London Skolars

London Skolars 20 Coventry Bears 46

New River Stadium, Sunday 8th June

Coventry Bears recorded their first away win in the new era on Sunday with an emphatic victory over London Skolars. A club with long standing experience at this level.

Skolars scored first after a poor start from kick off when they forced the Bears to make an error 10 m out. The ball was moved to the right and Matt Cook managed to squeeze over out wide. Skolars then bombed two good plays deep in Bears territory, but it was the Bears all the way after that after picking up a loose ball Andy Winfield broke then found Cameron Boulter who continued the play for Richie Hughes to score.

The next two trys were the Bears also as Skolars misjudged a neat kick for Ben Parry to touch down wide on the right side then soon after Jamahl Hunte scored after another from a chip through and re-gather under the posts.

The Bears went further ahead when Matt Cooper sliced through and beat the fullback to the line. Two more trys were added by Dan Parker the first from a brilliant chip kick and the second from a set scrum play.

The Skolars pushed harder in the second half, Billy Driver going over from dummy half early on but when Skolars gave a poor kick chase to a weak kick, Bears full back Andy Winfield gathered on his 30 m line and carved through the defence for a great long range try.

The home side kicked out on the full, but when Crook scored his second for Skolars there was a faint possibility of a comeback. A good run from Aaron Small saw Morgan go in at the corner but the Bears re-asserted themselves and when Skolars dropped the ball on their own 20 m line they waited for the whistle whilst Bears winger Reece Chapman- Carry gathered and scored with ease.

Bears Head Coach Tom Tsang commented on the great victory for the Bears:

“I'm obviously very happy with today's win, especially with it being away from home. I thought we were great in the first half and stuck to our game plan perfectly which got us a big lead that ultimately won us the match. We are much improved in the middle and we have some good pace out wide and finished off some well worked tries.

We are still very much a 'work in progress' and have a lot of improving to do to be consistently competitive with the more established sides in the league but the group of players we have at the club are all working very hard to better themselves which is showing on the field.

A pleasing aspect of today's performance was that we fielded a 100% Coventry Bears side - there were no loan or dual registration players from higher divisions, as seems to be the norm in this League, which bodes well for the future of the club.”

Teams:

SKOLARS

1 James Anthoney

2 Jimmy Morgan

3 Matt Cook

4 Aaron Small

5 John Paxton

7 Marcus Elliott

6 Mike Bishay

8 Michael Sykes

9 Sam Druce

10 David Williams

11 Will Lovell

12 Carleren Clement-Pascall

13 Lamont Bryan

Subs (All used)

15 Billy Driver

24 Lewis Reed

22 Louis Robinson

14 Kazeem Faturoti

Tries: Cook (4,61), Driver (46), Morgan (58) Goals: Druce 1/2, Elliott 1/2.

BEARS

28 Andy Winfield

20 Jamahl Hunte

5 Ben Parry

13 Simon Phillips (Capt)

41 Reece Chapman-Carry

7 Cameron Boulter

30 Dan Parker

27 James Geurtjens

24 Richie Hughes

46 Jack Francis

12 Chris Barratt

29 Liam Thompson

26 Matt Cooper

Subs (all used)

21 Stephen Coleman

50 Morgan Evans

38 Tom Hall

32 Kenny Kelliher

Tries: Hughes (16), Parry (19), Hunte (28), Cooper (30), Parker (35, 40), Winfield (53), Chapman- Carry (73), Goals: Parker 7/8.

Bears Man of the Match: Dan Parker

Bears Game star: Andy Winfield

Referee: Scott Mikalouskas

Attendance:259

Next up the Bears play Swinton Lions at the Butts Park Arena, Sunday 14th June, 3pm kick off. Gate entry is: £10 Adults £8 Concessions £2 Children.

Bears Media8 June 2015