Coventry Bears 48 Oxford 10
Coventry Bears v Oxford, Saturday 11th June BPA
A muggy afternoon saw the Coventry Bears rip apart Oxford in a dominant performance. Starting props James Geurtjens and Jack Morrison had a brilliant opening twenty minutes, building momentum, which created the foundation for some quick fire scores. Joel James crashed over after Eddie Medforth and Jay Lobwein had carved up the middle from within their own half. Morrison himself then powered over from close range after Oxford kicked out on the full, before the ball was moved quickly into the hands of Medforth to hand off some would be defenders to go over.
Oxford stemmed the tide somewhat, before Medforth was released down the flank. Despite being brought down, loaned prop Brad Brennan crashed over from the resulting penalty for off side. Oxford did give their vocal supports something to cheer after two successive penalties piggybacked them up field, Danny Allan finding Aaron Nicholson after some fast hands to step over the line. Oxford had the bit between their teeth and went close again as the half came to an end, Allan weaving around the defence before Jordan Siddons was held up, before a sucker punch from the Bears. Medforth was again put into space 20 meters out and acrobatically touched down just as the hooter sounded.
It was a one two punch as, after a penalty for a high tackle, James hit Liam Thompson with a well timed crash ball for the second row to stroll over soon into the second stanza. After a short kick off attempt back fired for Oxford, Trae O’Sullivan broke up the centre. Ritchie Hughes then bulleted a pass into Jono Millzewski, who went over unopposed.
A wonderful Joe Nathaniel 60 metre break helped relieve some pressure for Oxford, but they couldn’t capitalise. Coventry then scored a wonderful try, the ball finding, amongst others, James, Redman and for the final offload, Matt Reid, to release Batchelor.
Allan, elusive as always, did restore some pride, showing power and poise to go over, although Oxford undid the good work when they allowed the subsequent kick off to go dead. The game then become scrappy, Oxford in particular conceding numerous penalties.
One moment of quality was Dan Price kicking a wonderful 40/20 for the home side, although nothing came off the resulting set. The exclamation mark on a fine team performance was added when Chris Barrett twisted out of the grasp of some would be defenders to score.
Tom Tsang commented on the game;
"I'm very proud of the lads today. We have been showing signs of improvements against teams above us on the table but it's hugely important we don't get complacent and slip up against those around us. We opened the game very strongly and professionally. It wasn't a complete performance and there are still a lot of things we need to be better at.
I thought our pack really dominated and gave us the field position to score some good tries. Next week we face a much sterner test in Hunslet of Leeds but we are now confident we can match most teams in this division"
GAMEBREAKER: Medforths try on the stroke of half time gave the Bears belief, momentum, and a 20-point cushion for the second half.
GAMESTAR: The Bears front row was very good, but Eddie Medforth was near unstoppable at times down the left touchline, running deft lines with power and pace.
MATCH FACTS
BEARS SQUAD:
1 Dan Price
2 Jono Millzewski
3 Matt Reid
21 Eddie Medforth
5 Hayden Freeman
6 Joel James
7 James Redman
8 James Geurtjens
9 Jay Lobwein
10 Jack Morrison
11 Liam Thompson
12 Chris Barrett
13 Grant Beecham
Subs (all used):
19 Trae O’Sullivan
18 Brad Brennan
16 Joe Batchelor
14 Richie Hughes
10 Ross Peltier
Tries: James (8), Morrison (11), Medforth (17, 40) Brennan, (29) Thompson (44), Miliszewski (47), Batchelor (53), Barrett (75)
Goals: James (6/9)
OXFORD SQUAD:
1 Harvey Burnett
2 Jordan Parry
3 James Cryer
4 Josh Nathaniel
5 Luke Gardner
6 Marcus Brooker
7 Danny Allan
8 Daniel Igbindion
9 Casey Cabterbury
10 Will Maher
11 Jordan Siddons
12 Aaron Nicholson
13 Luke Evans
Subs (all used):
14 Santino Decaro
15 Tom Davies
16 Ryan Backhouse
17 Jack Smith
Tries: Nicholson (34) ,Allan (57)
Goals: Allan (1/2)
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match:
Bears: Eddie Medforth
Oxford: Danny Allan
Penalty count: 9-7
Half-time: 26-6
Referee: Brandon Robinson
Attendance: 444
SCORING SEQUENCE: 6-0, 12-0, 16-0, 20-0, 20-6, 26-6, 32-6, 36-6, 40-6, 42-10, 48-10