Jaded Warriors mauled by Bears
THE Warriors tumbled to defeat against Coventry Bears after an error-strewn performance at Chosen Hill.
The Warriors missed far too many tackles and gave away possession cheaply as they conceded 11 tries and allowed their opponents to leapfrog them in the table.
The Warriors were made to suffer by a well-organised Bears outfit that had devastating runners in Matt Cooper and Brad Massey.
While there was plenty of industry from the Warriors' younger players and Stephan Fourie tried hard to inject life into things, the team seemed jaded and out of sorts.
The game started well for the home side with Rich Carter opening the scoring, taking Fourie's overhead pass to score in a corner after just two minutes.
But the Bears were soon level. After the Warriors made a mess of the restart, Ben Hands scored, followed in the next set by Alan Robinson. When Sam Montague strolled over, the Bears had a 14-4 advantage with just 15 minutes gone.
The Warriors then managed to get into good field position and laid siege to the Bears line for almost the only time in the game, but the visitors held on until Chris Furze battled over, Fourie's conversion putting the Warriors in touch at 14-10.
Immediately the Bears replied through Aaron Jarvis from a quickly taken penalty that caught the Warriors asleep. They extended that lead after Carter's break ended in a knock-on. The swift counter saw Stuart Lee split the defence and race in for a try converted by Rich Whitehouse.
The Warriors pulled a score back as Fourie stretched over to plant the ball on the line for a try he converted himself, but just before the interval, Barry McGuffog powered over from another quick tap to ease the Bears into a 28-16 half-time advantage.
After weathering a brief storm from the Warriors, the Bears extended their lead early in the second half after Brad Massey rampaged over.
The game became scrappy and errors from both sides disrupted play until Fourie's neat chip over the top was fumbled by the Bears and Tom James gave Alex McEwan a try – though there was plenty of doubt about the grounding of the ball.
The Bears then unleashed the strong-running Matt Cooper who broke up the middle to score but Whitehouse missed the conversion.
After a brief flare-up following a couple of off-the-ball incidents, things calmed down and play continued with the Bears playing some excellent rugby league. Cooper's lovely offload to Lee split the defence and Whitehouse was in support for the try.
Cooper then crossed for his second try, outpacing the defence from distance before the Bears' scored their final try with the last play of the game, Jarvis charging to the posts and offloading to Ryan Jenkins for a simple finish.
GLOUCESTERSHIRE WARRIORS: Regi-Lee Alexander, Rich Carter, Alex McEwan, Salo Elia, Neys Schreiner, Matt Elston, Stephan Fourie, Simon Brown, Chris Furze, Dan Garbutt (Capt), Ed Stallard, Dean Barnard, Jack Petelo. Replacements: Ryan Alexander, Sam Morgan, James Coleman, Pat Hanslow, Tom James, Sonnie Williams.
COVENTRY BEARS: Rich Whitehouse (Capt.), Tanaka Chamunokara, Ben Hands, Stuart Lee, Tom O'Toole, Sam Montague, Ali Marshall, Ryan Jenkins, Matt Allsopp, Alan Robinson, Aaron Jarvis, Ben Sheppard, Matt Cooper. Replacements: Brad Massey, Barry McGuffog, Craig Lee, Jake Hird, Andy Lucas, James Horrocks.
Referee: Ian Waters (South West RLRS)
Man of the Match: Warriors – Stephan Fourie; Bears – Brad Massey
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