Bears outclassed by Lions
Bears outclassed by Lions
Coventry Bears 8 Swinton Lions 78
Butts Park Arena, Sunday 14th June, 3 pm kick off.
Report by Grace Mellor
COVENTRY struggled to get going in this game as it was noticeable straight away Swinton were the stronger team on the pitch, with a number of tries early on.
Swinton’s consistent speed and power in their plays gained them many metres; Lloyd’s kicking game was high which led to a Coventry fumble resulting in a goal line drop out. Swinton’s quick passing saw a hole in Coventry’s defensive line, which led to their second try in ten minutes from Lever. Coventry hadn’t had a full set of six yet, and were giving away penalties off their kick off. Aaronson was in for his second of the day as he was able to run around Coventry’s fullback, Swinton from the scrum passed the ball to Atkin who ran around the defence on the left, scoring without trouble. Straight after, there was a strong run from Robinson which led the way for Ackers to cross under the sticks.
Coventry yet to have a look in at the action from this afternoon as it was all in Swinton’s favour, with Swinton crossing the line with another three tries in ten minutes from Littler, White and Robinson. Coventry had their first full set of six at the end of the half from a penalty but was unable to create anything from it despite substitutes Sheens efforts.
Swinton came out at the second half still raring to go as Robinson was the first on the score sheet of the half, soon after to be followed by White after Atkin broke down the tackle down the right hand side. Coventry were unlucky as Lions offloaded just before the line after managing to keep them out, as Littler crossed over for his second try of the day. A big tackle from Coleman, led to Coventry collecting the ball on the fifth. Unfortunately not enough as Austin steamed through Bears defence to cross over, The Bears reacted with a full length sprint from a loose ball saw Jamahl Hunte cross over the line, this enabled them to wake up as Sheen soon after crossed over the try line too, two Bears tries in five minutes. However this was nothing but a consolation as the Lions came back with 3 tries in ten minutes just before the final whistle which enabled Robinson to cross over for his hat-trick. The Bears were a different team and lacking in players, despite showing some courage they were outclassed by Swinton who have just come down from Championship to League One.
Bears Head Coach Tom Tsang commented:
"Swinton are a quality team with bags of experience in their side who were on top form in this match, we were outclassed today. With 5 teams coming down into League One from Championship we always knew we were going to have some stiff challenges and character building experiences. Today was one of those events that we must learn from and keep developing as a team. We had great support from the fans in attendance today and we will keep fighting to do the best we can in this division. This is year one for us and we can only go one way. Next week we play South Wales Scorpions and we must bounce back and aim for a positive result."
Half-time: 0-42
Referee: Tom Grant
Coventry Bears
1 Andy Winfield (28)
2 Reece Chapman Carry (41)
3 Ben Parry (5)
4 Stephen Coleman (21)
5 Jamahl Hunte (20)
6 Dan Parker (30)
7 Cameron Boutler (7)
8 James Geurtjens (27)
9 Richie Hughes (24) (Capt)
10 Matt Cooper (26)
11 Liam Thompson (29)
12 Chris Barratt (12)
13 Kenny Kelliher (32)
14 Billy Sheen (6)
15 Jack Francis (46)
16 Tom Hall (38)
17 Nick Taylor (3)
Swinton Lions
1 Chris Atkin (7)
2 Shaun Robinson (2)
3 Stuart Littler (3)
4 Andy Ball (21)
5 Harry Aaronson (25)
6 Ben White (6)
7 Aaron Lloyd (18)
8 Ben Austin (10)
9 Andy Ackers (9)
10 Jordan James (24)
11 Josh Barlow (30)
12 Grant Beecham (11)
13 Rob Lever (31)
14 Andy Thornley (29)
15 Tommy Gallagher (13)
16 Darren Hawkyard (12)
17 Keith Holden (14)
Swinton Man of the Match- Ben White
Coventry Bears Man of the Match- Stephen Coleman
Next Sunday 21st June the Bears are away versus South Wales Scorpions with a 3pm kick off
Address: Parc Dyffryn Pennar, Mountain Ash. CF45 4DA