BEARS COME OUT ON TOP
It was an early start as the bus departed Norths in Cammeray and headed for the nation’s capital on Saturday. The boys had a big job ahead of them with a first v second clash on opposition home soil. As the bus pulled into Raiders Belconnen the temperature was 4 degrees with a “feels like” -4 degrees, needless to say, it was chilly! With the cold and rainy weather, the red & black faithfuls congregated in the one main stand and took to their feet as the Bears made their way out on to the field ready for an epic battle. A strong wind and vertical rain played havoc on field throughout the first half but both teams pushed forward stoically. Bears take the early points with a penalty kick from a dangerous tackle call, Kieran Hayman converts, and the scoreboard lights up with 0 – 2 to the red & black. Raiders retaliate with a swift play to the wing and finding open space. Converted to lead 6 – 2, but not for long. Just over 5 minutes later, Bears are attacking the line, and a quick play the ball finds an unstoppable Ben Talty who swan dives over the try line. Hayman converts and the Bears take back the lead 6 – 8. With 4 minutes left in the first half, Bears again take advantage of a penalty call and point to the posts. Hayman converts and the score sits at 6 – 10 as both teams head to the sheds for half time.
The second half started much like the first with ten minutes of strong play from both sides before Raiders broke the Bears defensive line to charge over, add the six points and claim back the lead 12 – 10. Near on 25 minutes of completed sets, deep kicks and an absolute battering played out on field before Bears were able to change momentum of the game. With 7 minutes left on the clock, Bears once again point to the posts after a penalty call with Hayman given an opportunity to level the scores. A massive kick from 40 metres out, Hayman nails it and the scores are locked at 12 – 12. Not done yet, and the Bears know we haven’t driven 3 hours to Canberra to draw. The team positions quickly and sets up Hayman to have a crack at a 2-point field goal. The crowd are on their feet to watch a beautiful moment as the ball flies over the white posts lighting up the scoreboard 12 – 14. Finishing the game off in pure style, Jayden Yates makes a break, offloads to a supporting Jake Toby who long balls it to a waiting Allan Fitzgibbon who expertly takes it to the corner. Hayman converts to boast a 100% kick rate for the game and the score extends to 12 – 20. The post try celebration of the team was absolutely brilliant to watch as you could see just want it meant to them all to secure that win and push 5 points clear on the ladder.
A proud Head Coach Pat Weisner commented “One of our best wins of the season. We had a short turnaround from the Souths game, early morning bus trip to Canberra and a game played in freezing conditions with on and off rain and the boys could have found excuses if they wanted to but instead, they rose to those challenges and defended superbly for 80mins with just 17 missed tackles”. Weisner continued “We missed a few chances in the last 25mins to take the lead, but the boys never lost belief and stuck at it until eventually the Raiders cracked. I was really happy for Kieran Hayman to have his moment icing those big kicks at the end of the game and he deserves credit for some big plays in the last 10mins, but it was a real team effort for 80 mins”. Weisner went on to say “To win 9 in a row has been an incredible run and we just want to keep working hard for each other in defence and continue to work on our attack and see where that takes us”.
AXIS ATHLETIC MEDICAL UPDATE
Injuries continue to plague our NSW Cup side with a number of players nursing ongoing concerns and new injuries sustained over the last two games. Round 19 saw Luke Hodge sustain a Grade 3 MCL against the Rabbitohs and will miss 6+ weeks. On Saturday big Philip Makatoa was taken from the field with a left ankle injury and is awaiting scans, while Israel Ogden is under review for a left knee injury that occurred during the same game.
Nathaniel Roache and Jack Boyling are recovering well from their Lisfranc injuries that occurred in round 1. Both players have returned to field training, and we look forward to Boyling making a return to games within a few weeks. Riley Meyn is now 6 weeks post operation on his ACL. He is now out of a brace and has returned to the gym for rehabilitation.
