Coventry Bears 28-6 Leicester Phoenix
Coventry Bears maintained their winning run over old rivals Leicester Phoenix on Saturday. Phoenix coached by former Coventry coach Ty Watson had defeated the Bears 34 points to 30 earlier this season.
The Bears needing to win both this game and next weeks fixture against Birmingham Bulldogs got off to a fine start.
A bulldozing run from Coventry’s Alan Robinson set up a try for Ryan Jenkins who powered through the Phoenix markers to score under the posts from a set move. Phoenix responded when the Bears conceded a penalty. The Bears advantage was quickly restored by a fine solo run by winger Andy McGrory.
With the conditions rapidly taking a turn for the worse as the heavens opened Coventry’s Mark Challis again forced his way, through the Leicester defence.
That try on 17 minutes gave the Bears a healthy lead at 14 points to 6.
With both sides struggling to play in the driving rain, it was inevitable that mistakes would occur and the referee was kept busy in what was becoming a full blooded encounter.
The second half followed the pattern of the first stanza, but it was the Coventry outfit that handled the conditions the better of the two sides.
An early try by Stuart Lee set the Bears away after 3 minutes of second half play. This was followed 5 minutes later by a powerful run by Bears centre Ben Hands.
The best and last try of the game was scored by Coventry’s Tanaka Chamunakara.
Picking the ball up from dummy half on the Bears 20 metre line. The speedster forced his way through the ruck and found himself in the clear with just the fullback to beat.
A nifty sidestep passed the marker and he was away. There are not many players in the league that would be capable of running down Chamunokara, but to the young Leicester defenders credit he gave chase and almost caught up. Chamunokara’s final burst of speed seeing off the gallant pursuer.
Coach Alan Robinson said after the game
“I was really impressed with our defensive effort, and the way we kept our discipline in controling the game under difficult conditions. Ryan (Tucker) Jenkins was outstanding and fully deserved his nomination as Man of the Match”
