West Wales Match Report

Records tumble as Bears hit four in a row.

COVENTRY BEARS 64 WEST WALES RAIDERS 6

Mike Hyde, Butts Park Arena, Wednesday

Photos by Dave Jessop

Coventry Bears recorded their highest ever score, their highest winning margin and also four consecutive wins for the first time as they comprehensively beat bottom club West Wales Raiders in a rearranged midweek fixture.

The sun was still beating down on a pitch scorched in the heatwave to reveal the location and markings of a velodrome previously on the same site but removed decades ago.

The Bears kicked off, but soon had the ball back and were attacking. A huge kick confused the Raiders defence after just three minutes, and Chris Barratt took advantage to score the first try of the evening, and Ben Stead promptly added two more points.

Just five minutes later, Bears passed the ball out to the left for Jason Bass to finish the move, with Stead again adding the extras.

It was Hayden Freeman who then scored his first try of the night as the home side continued to build their lead.

Raiders defending then stepped up a gear as a they tried to get back into the game, and they came close to replying but on their sixth tackle had to hand the ball over a yard from Coventry’s line.

The Bears then regained their composure with Malakhi Lloyd Jones making a string of strong runs.

After a prolonged period of attacking, Prop James Guertjens scored his first try of the season as he twisted over the line.

On the next attack, the ball was passed from the right wing all the way across to the left for Freeman to get his second.

A commanding first half lead was ensured when Kam Pearce-Paul sliced through the Raiders defence and over the line two minutes before the hooter.

Just seconds into the new half, the Bears came close following another incisive kick which was just out of Freeman’s reach.

Ben Stead added to his points tally with a try as he sold a dummy to the away defence.

The Raiders were not yet finished though as Bradley Kissingbury narrowly missed out, but then things took a turn for the worse as Craig Lewis was sinbinned.

The Raiders right wing continued to look frail as Kieran Sherrat also added his name to the growing list of Bears try scorers.

However, Phil Cowburn did get his side on the scoreboard following a run the entire length of the field and his, and his team’s defiant spirit received loud applause.

But immediately after the kick off it was back to one-way traffic as Harry Chapman took advantage of a fumble to cross over for a try.

Pearce-Paul then bagged two tries in a row with the first being in the corner, and the second being from further out as he sold two dummies before crossing over for his hat trick.

Not to be outdone, Freeman scored his third try of the evening with five minutes to go.

This sealed a fourth consecutive victory which saw the Bears overtake London Skolars in the League table.