Newcastle Match Report

COVENTRY BEARS 8

NEWCASTLE THUNDER 28

MIKE HYDE, Butts Park Arena, Sunday

Photography Dave Jessop

Bears show promise against promotion favorites.

Coventry Bears kicked off their first home game of the season, but within a minute were trailing as Thunder stormed their line.

IT was Alex Clegg who scored on the far left following a fast and flowing move involving Adam Lawton and Ashley Gibson. No conversion was forthcoming.

The Bears side seemed stunned, no doubt as they hadn’t played for a while, and were soon having to defend and tackle hard to prevent a further incursion.

However, just seven minutes later Gibson took advantage of the weakness already exposed and crossed over for himself on the left.

This time Reece Dean was successful with the conversion and Thunder had a ten point lead after less than ten minutes.

The Bears then got into some kind of rhythm and the match was more even, as newly signed dual registration players Jed Charlton and Morgan Punchard settled into the team and gave some needed power and ideas.

Thunder held out and were able to reassert themselves as Lewis Young caught a difficult pass, almost losing it, but then crashing over the line, but again there was no conversion.

The Bears again showed signs of resistance and were held on the visitors line without scoring.

A good move by Thunder, including two offloads in succession led to the next try. Joe Brown was the recipient of the final pass and placed the ball down on the right over the try line, to give four tries without reply. Thankfully the lack of conversions meant it was still only 0-18.

The complexion of the game changed in the final minute of the half as Reece Rance scored for the Bears, there was no conversion, but the score now stood at 4-18 as the hooter sounded.

Coventry Bears came out the more confident side, buoyed by entry onto the scoresheet. Rance looked powerful as he led a wave of Bears attacks, and Hayden Freeman came close to scoring with barely five minutes of the half gone.

And still the Bears pressed hard and full back Nathan Hill became their second scorer as he sold a crafty dummy before crashing over. It was clearly not a good day for kickers as yet again the conversion failed.

At this point the margin stood at just ten points and a comeback looked possible for the home side who were settling into their stride.

However, Sam Luckley had other ideas, and there was literally no stopping him as his powerful fifty yard run saw him cross over and put an end to the Bears hopes.

Thunder were now in the ascendancy, and only a valiant tackle by Rance prevent their lead being quickly extended.

The two sides entered a period of attrition and at times play was rather scrappy and error ridden.

Then with ten minutes to go, Sam Blake seared through the home sides defence with a diagonal run which culminated in the visitors sixth try of the afternoon.

There was no conversion, but there was now a comfortable twenty point margin between the sides and it stayed that way until the end.

The Bears fans cheered the team off and were in good mood, despite the defeat. Apart from being caught napping in the first few minutes the Bears side, who are still quite new to each other, had proved a match for a bigger and more established side.

MATCHFACTS

BEARS

1 Nathan Hill

2 Hayden Freeman

3 Liam Welham

4 Kadeem Williams

5 Reece Rance

6 Kieran Smith

7 Morgan Punchard

14 Kieran Moran

24 Doug Chirnside

10 Peter Ryan

11 Brad Clavering (capt)

12 James Thornton

13 Ryan Langton

Subs (all used)

8 Sam Moorhouse

21 Will Budd

23 Chris Cullimore

16 Ben Grey

Tries: Rance (39), Hill (50)

Goals: Clavering 0/2

Man of the match Liam Welham

Thunder

1 Lewis Young

2 Joe Brown

3 Ashley Gibson

4 Kieran Gill

5 Alex Clegg

6 Quentin Laulu Togagae

7 Reece Dean

8 Brendan Santi

9 Bob Beswick

10 Michael Wood

11 Adam Lawton

12 Jed Charlton

13 Evan Simons

Subs (all used)

14 Sam Blake

15 Sam Luckley

16 Harry Aldous

17 Jake Lightowler

Tries: Clegg (1), Gibson(8), Young(25), Brown(30), Luckley(55), Blake(71)

Goals: Dean 2/6

Penalty count: 10-9

Half-time: 4-18

Referee: Kevin Moore

Attendance: 384

SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-4,0-10,0-14,0-18,4-18: 8-18,8-24,8-28

Bears Media2 March 2020