West Wales Raiders Preview

Bears prepare to Battle the Raiders!

Coventry Bears v West Wales Raiders Wednesday 25th July kick off 7.45pm

Preview by Mike Hyde

The games are coming thick and fast for the Bears as they play at home for the third time in eleven days.

Even better is that the wins are also coming thick and fast now, and the Bears go into this game on a winning run which started away at London Skolars[20-24], followed by the wins against Hemel Stags [20-18] and Keighley Cougars [30-20].

A Wednesday night win against the Raiders would put the Bears on an unprecedented four victories in a row.

West Wales Raiders are based in Llanelli, some distance from previous incarnations of Welsh Rugby League clubs in Cardiff, Bridgend, and most recently with the South Wales Scorpions/Ironmen in Neath and Merthyr.

The move West has not been easy, indeed Paul Emanuelli and Chris Vitalini of the old South Wales set up decided to join the Bears rather than ply their trade in Carmarthenshire/Dyfed, and the amateur club in Merthyr now has links with the Bears also.

The Raiders have also lost every game so far this season,often heavily but are gaining friends in the game due to their sportsmanship and attitude in adversity. Long term, the future looks better, owning their own ground and clubhouse, and with good potential support and a good source of local talent.

However, this season has been very difficult, as indeed it has been for the Bears. Thanks to the recent run of wins, the Bears are now no longer talked about in the same sentence as the Raiders and fellow strugglers Hemel, but look set to overtake long established London Skolars as they edge away from the lower reaches of League 1.

So, they now go into a game as favourites, but the points gap by which the Raiders are losing has narrowed recently, they put up a valiant fight 6-46 against Workington in their last outing.

Like the Bears felt a few weeks ago, they believe a little luck must surely come their way soon, so Tom and the lads cannot take anything for granted in the first ever Wednesday night game at the Butts Park Arena.

Bears Squad for Wednesday night’s fixture, 17 players to be chosen from:

Ben Stead

Chris Barratt

Cameron Stewart

Chris Vitalini

Dan Gover

Dante Morley Samuels

Erol Carter

Hayden Freeman

Jacob Ogden

Kam Pearce Paul

Paul Emmanuelli

Mal Lloyd Jones

Jason Bass

Kieran Sherratt

James Mason

James Geurtjens

Liam Rice Wilson

Peter Ryan

Zak Williams

Bears Media23 July 2018