Workington Match Report

Bears show fighting spirit

Workington Town 40 Coventry Bears 16

A 200 mile, five hour drive up the M6 is not the best preparation for a physical game like Rugby League, and the Bears got off to a decidedly shakey start before recovering their composure and keeping the scoreline respectable on Sunday. And this was accomplished despite having seven players unavailable due to injury or other commitments, which had given coach Tom Tsang a selection headache going into the fixture.

Town, who are third placed in the League, did most of the damage in the first twenty five minutes. James Newton scored the first points for Workington following some good play by their bog forwards.

Their next try was a skilfull solo effort from Jamie Doran who tricked his way past three Bears defenders.

And then the real damage was done by James Hambley who scored two tries, the first on fifteen minutes the next on twenty four.

In between those two tries, the Bears managed to summon up their strength as Ben Stead kicked the ball for it to land just in front of the Workington posts where he ran onto it, picked it up and scored a fine try. He also completed the job by taking and scoring the conversion himself.

However, after twenty four minutes, the hosts had 24 points on the scoreboard, and that point-a-minute score rate looked very ominous, especially given Town’s position in the league and their need to have the best possible points difference going into the playoffs. 

The Bears did manage to put the brakes on, and no more points were added in the first half, with the score staying at 24-6.

Workingtonperhaps showed their frustration in the early part of the second half as two of their players were sinbinned for foul tackles. Rather than being weakened by this, the eleven remaining men worked together to put Tom Curwen crashing over for a try.

Then as their numbers increased to twelve, Oliver Wilkes added the home side’s sixth try.

A spectacular run by Ben Morris left the Bears defenders floundering in his wake as he scored Workington’s final try of the afternoon.

‘Never say die’ has become a hallmark of Bears’ performances trhis season, and Hayden Freeman lived up to this as he picked up a loose ball kicked it over a Town defender and pounced on it over the line. Ben Stead added two more with the conversion.

And that wasn’t the end, as Bears fullback Jason Bass battered his way over the line with a minute to go, leaving the score at 40-16 on a day when things could have been much worse after a bad start.

Next weekend the Bears hope to return to winning ways when they visit bottom club West Wales Raiders.